Completion of Ofankor-Nsawam Highway to be delayed; contractor to submit revised date

The chief resident engineer on the Pokuase-Nsawam Highway project, Ing. Kwabena Bempong, has disclosed that the scheduled July 2024 completion date of construction works will be delayed and extended.

Ing. Bempong said the extensive work that still needs to be done will make it impossible to complete the project by the initial July deadline.

He told the host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle, on Citi FM that though the deadline will not be met, the project’s contractor is yet to submit a revised date.

“We have requested the contractor to give us a revised programme and obviously for a project like this, we need to have an extension of time approved by the Ministry of Roads and Highways and until that, we cannot say anything.

“So far as we are concerned, the completion date is July but we all know that it is not possible so the contractor will have to give us compelling reasons why it is not possible to complete it [the project] on the date that was originally scheduled.”

Ing. Bempong attributed the delay to the relocation of utility lines and the compensation of persons who have been affected by the project.

“Relocation of utility lines and longitudinal drains are some of the major reasons the project has been delayed. We are relocating electricity, water and communication lines.

“The other challenge is the relocation of people affected by the project. There are people who are trying to injunct the project and we still have litigations. We are two years into the project and we still have some of the utility lines in the road space.”