The contractor working on the Tech to Anloga Junction section of the Kumasi road, Core Construction Limited, has blamed the delay on the completion of the work on the soggy nature of some part of the road.
Mr Frank Lartey, Managing Director of Core Construction Ltd told the Ghanaian Observer newspaper that contrary to the assertion that the company was only doing an asphalt overlay the work is more involving than that.
He noted that his outfit was doing a complete reconstruction of the road.
According to him, the company needed to scan the road to ascertain its structural composition before undertaking the maintenance work.
LOOSE MATERIALS
He said the scan of the road showed that loosed materials were used as part of the foundation of the road and the area was water logged.
“We have observed that the subgrade underground or the foundation of the road, was built with loosed materials which carry the road.
“We also observed that when we started the reconstruction that water was coming up to the surface which caused lots of movement. Therefore we had to wait for a redesign of the structures which we call pavement layers of the road,” he explained.
As a result, he said the company needed to cut that section, refilled it before going ahead with the plan maintenance work.
He said “now we have a new pavement which is built of about 700mm rocky filled materials … and upon it, we are going to build another 400mm stone crushed rock stone base before asphalt.”
HEAVY TRAFFIC
Besides that, he said that road was a very busy one and the work could only be done at night while the road was opened to traffic during day, adding, “this is a major and very busy road which does not have major diversions. So we cannot work during the day.”
Mr Lartey explained that after the assessment, there was the need to review the contract as working in the night was more expensive that working during the day as the company would have to employ more equipment to provide light.
COMPLETION
He said the section from Top High to Susanso was the area that has been discovered to be water logged and would need to be filled before the asphalt overlay.
Although the time for completion has already elapsed, he was hopeful that within the next four months, “we should be able to complete the work.”
Mr Lartery who conducted journalists around the project site to see for themselves the extent of work being done on the road, said he appreciated the concerns of the residents on the delay of the project but explained that it was not fault of the contractors.
“We needed to vary the contract to include things which were not initially factored into the contract and this definitely delayed the project but we are on course and will soon complete the project to ease the traffic congestion currently being experienced on the road,” he stated.
RESIDENTS
Residents of the Kumasi Metropolis have in recent times complained about the progress of work on the Tech-Anloga junction of the Accra-Kumasi Highway which has led to a heavy vehicular congestion during the day.
They blamed the contractor for delaying the project and inconveniencing the residents with some of them even calling for the termination of the contract to be awarded to another contractor.
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