The chief resident engineer on the Pokuase-Nsawam Highway project, Ing. Kwabena Bempong, has announced that the construction work will not meet its scheduled completion date of July 2024 and will be delayed.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show, Ing. Bempong explained that the extensive remaining work makes it impossible to meet the initial July deadline.
He mentioned that the project’s contractor has not yet provided a revised completion 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.”
He attributed the delay to the relocation of utility lines and the need to compensate those 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.”