By Stephen Asante
Accra, Nov. 19, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has inaugurated the Flowerpot Interchange, a key infrastructure project aimed at enhancing connectivity between the northern and southern sections of the Accra-Tema Motorway.
The interchange, constructed by China Railway Engineering Ghana, features an 802-meter dual carriageway with a modern overpass at the Spintex Road Flowerpot Roundabout.
The project is expected to significantly improve traffic flow and stimulate socio-economic activities in the region.
“The Flowerpot enclave faced an overwhelming traffic, often burdened with up to some 5, 000 vehicles per hour during peak hours,” the President noted.
He envisaged that with the completion of the project, which commenced in 2017, it would ease traffic flow across Cantonments, Burma Camp, East-Legon, and the Spintex road.
Other features of the edifice include an 80-meter ramp, connecting the viaduct to the Motorway towards Tema, as well as a 140-meter ramp from Shiashie onto the viaduct towards the Airport Hills.
Additionally, a new road passing through the old East-Legon tunnel has been constructed, alongside a 200-meter road linking Cantonments to the Giffard Road Interchange.
The project incorporates pedestrian walkways on both sides of the flyover, cycling ways, crash barriers, streetlights, road markings, traffic signals, recreational facilities, fire station and police post.
President Akufo-Addo said the monumental project in Ghana’s capital, Accra, represented the scale of ambition of his administration to expand the road network across the country.
Other key road projects completed by the Government in the capital include the Pokuase Interchange, a four-tier road network unparalleled in the West African sub-Region, Borteyman road network, Tema Motorway Phase One, and East-Legon Underpass, he added.
The authorities say work on the Obetsebi Lamptey and Tema Motorway Interchanges, as well as the Adentan-Dodowa road network were on course.
The government says it is bent on developing the road network in the capital to an appreciable standard owing to the city’s growing economic significance in the sub-Region.
Accra, one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities, sees an annual population growth of over two percent, according to the United Nations (UN).
The UN estimates that the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area is home to over four million people, with 2.5 million daily business commuters.
This figure is projected to rise to 9.6 million by 2050, highlighting the city’s rapid urbanization and growing demand for infrastructure and services.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced that 14 interchange projects are currently underway across the country, emphasizing the government’s commitment to completing them on schedule.
These projects are part of the administration’s broader infrastructure development plan aimed at improving transportation and boosting economic growth.
“We are building a new Ghana. A nation that works for everyone,” he pledged.
Expanding the road network was vital to socio-economic growth, he stated, saying his administration was bent on leaving behind a pivotal legacy in terms of road construction.
Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Roads and Highways, cautioned the public against erecting unauthorised structures along the intersections and medians of the newly constructed Interchange.
GNA