EXTEND KUMASI-TECHIMAN DUAL ROAD (PAGE 44)

The Techiman Traditional Council has renewed its appeal to President J.E.A. Mills and his government to consider extending the ongoing construction of a 75-kilometre Kumasi-Techiman dual carriageway from the Ghana Nuts Company factory at Hansua to Techiman.
According to the council, the appeal for the construction of the dual carriageway to include the Ghana Nuts area to the town was to help ease congestion in the centre of the town, since Techiman was fast expanding and developing into a commercial hub of the region and the West African sub-region as a result of its market.
The council, led by its President, Oseadeeyo Akumfi Ameyaw IV, who is also the Omanhene of the traditional area, renewed the appeal to the new government when it met with the consultants, contractors and supervising agencies of the 75-kilomentre, 30-million Euros project being funded by the European Union at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Among the issues raised by the traditional council at the meeting concerning the ongoing road construction included the expansion of the drainage systems to check flooding, access to people’s houses, ‘U’ turns, access to the Omanhene’s Palace, service lanes, the roundabout in the town, link roads, parking spaces at the main station and the Akisimasu link road.
According to the Omanhene, the council sent a petition on the appeal to former President J.A. Kufuor who pledged that his government would consider it, adding that as of now construction work had begun but there was no sign of “our request for the road to begin from Ghana Nuts being factored in”.
The council made the request when former President Kufuor went to inaugurate Ghana Nuts on February 28, 2008, after which the former President assured the council that the government would factor its request into the project.
The Omanhene called on the consultants, contractors and the relevant agencies working on the project to always engage the traditional council in its execution to factor in the cultural, social and economic lives of the people, adding that they should invite Nananom to their site meetings.
Meanwhile, in an interview, the contract engineer of the project, Mr Joseph Omani-Mensah, said “the European Union says it cannot fund that extra work from the Ghana Nuts factory, as is being demanded by the traditional council, which was not part of the original design”.
He noted that if anything could be done, then it was the responsibility of the Ghana government to fund the extra work from the Ghana Nuts area.
Mr Omani-Mensah, however, stated that the consultants working on the project had agreed to address the other concerns raised by the traditional council and pledged to engage Nananom from time to time to ensure the successful execution of the project.
Later, Oseadeeyo Ameyaw, in the company of some members of the traditional council, the consultant, as well as the contractors of the project, went on an inspection tour.