WORKS on the dual carriage road from Sokode to the centre of Ho, the Volta Regional capital, will be completed by the end of this year, a Deputy Roads and Highways Minister, Kwabena Owusu Aduomi, has assured.
According to Mr Aduomi, who is also the Member of Parliament(MP) for Ejisu, the 10.5 kilometer road originally scheduled to be completed in February 2018 is 34 per cent complete.
“The completion date has been extended to 31st December, 2019. The extension was due to a variation order to relocate some utilities and construction of additional drainage structure,” he told Parliament in Accra yesterday.
“The progress of work is projected at 34 per cent physical completion,” he stated adding that “the resumption and completion of the works will depend on how expeditiously the employer (government) pays for work done.”
Mr Aduomi was responding to a question asked by the Member of Parliament for Ho Central, Benjamin KomlaKpodo, who wanted to know when work on the project would be completed.
The deputy minister explained that the contractor’s work progress slowed down as a result of the Employer’s undue delay in paying for the work done.
Works completed to date, he said, include the construction of 0.9m, 1.2m and 1.8m diameter pipe culverts, and construction of box culverts of varying sizes at various locations.
Other works done so far are filling of culvert approaches including raising of road in low-lying areas, laying sub-base course at some sections of the road and laying of crushed rock base course at some sections, Mr Aduomi said.
Outstanding works to be done, he said, included additional drainage and kerb works, laying of sub-base and crashed rock base courses.
Mr Aduomi said asphaltic concrete binder and wearing courses, paving of walkways and median works, roadline marking, installation of traffic lights and construction of lay-byes, he said, were the other works left to be done.
The road which starts from Sokode Gborgame in the Ho Municipality was awarded in May 2016 and is being funded by the Consolidated Fund.
Meanwhile, the deputy minister has said works on the 14km Ho by-pass dual carriage road from Sokode Etoe junction on the Accra-Ho highway through the University of Health and Allied Sciences campus to Titrinu on the Ho-Aflao highway is “substantially completed.”
The Department of Urban Roads, he said, has commenced procurement of the phase II of the project which would be funded by the Ghana Road Fund.
“The ministry is reviewing the engineering designs and projected costs of the phase II after which bid will be invited from eligible contractors,” Mr Aduomi said.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
