ASAFO INTERCHANGE, now in use

At long last the Asafo Interchange has been completed and traffic jams and congestion of vehicles as well as the slow pace of vehicles around some parts of the metropolis will cease.

Commuters in the city centre, will now heave a sign of relief especially since they would not be in the vehicles for long periods anymore.

According to Eng. Owusu Sekyere Antwi, the Resident Engineer of the project, work on the project has finally been completed and by the end of November, the few things left to be done would be completed.

“These include minor works such as placing pavement blocks under the interchange, so that cars could park there and the building of a lorry park behind the Asafo Market, so that vehicles discharging goods, would not park on the streets.”

“There is also the overhead pedestrians footway at Kejetia, which is expected to be completed at the end of November,” he added.

According to Eng. Sekyere Antwi, these were not included in the original plan, but had to be added to ensure smooth movement of vehicles to and from the interchange.

He mentioned also that the road has been temporarily opened, to enable people get used to it, while some education is done to make the public aware of the directions and new signs connected to its usage.

The interchange expected to be completed last December, was unexpectedly delayed due to labour and other constraints.

However, all is set for residents of the metropolis, to have the interchange delivered to them as a Christmas present.

The interchange was designed by Hag Consult and Municipal Development Collaborative Limited (MDC) and constructed by Saroch/Selfi a joint venture.

Hag and MDC were the supervisors until half-way through the project, when the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) and the Department of Urban Roads took over the supervision.

The interchange known officially as the Asafo-UTC Interchange is a dual carriageway which enables traffic to move in opposite directions.

Its construction is supposed to aid free flow of traffic in the Kumasi metropolis.

Written by Nii Addokwei Moffatt, Graphic Nsempa