Resumption of construction works on the halted PTC Interchange in Takoradi will commence by the end of September this year.
This will be a great relief to commuters whose daily activities have been heavily impacted due to the stall in the construction of the interchange.
The resumption date came to the fore following a response to a question on the project by a worried resident of Amanful West, from the Member of Parliament for Takoradi Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah at a community engagement.
“The halt in the project is a great source of worry to me as well because I also use it. I know how significant it is considering how close it is to the Central Business District of Takoradi and also in terms of vehicular flow. Ever since the project was stopped we have been in constant engagements with the financiers and relevant stakeholders. Some agreements have been reached and work will resume before September ends.”
Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, who is also the regional minister, has started a series of community engagements aimed for him to get closer to his constituents.
He will use the engagements to “get to know the challenges confronting his constituents and together devise strategies to help address them”.
One of such engagements led him to Amanful West, where several residents also expressed similar sentiments about the delay in the construction of the interchange.
“We have been able to complete 83 percent of the works on the interchange and as you can see not much is left. So we will definitely complete it,” he assured
The three-tier PTC Interchange was originally a 30-month project for which work was scheduled for completion in July this year.
It is being financed through the Master Project Support Agreement between Ghana and the Chinese government undertaken by the Sinohydro Corporation under a barter trade agreement.
However the project had to be suspended in January this year due to a general announcement by the Finance Ministry that some projects may be reprioritised, which announcement, was said to have been misunderstood by the Chinese contractors
Participants at the community engagement are only hopeful that the minister’s assurance will be fulfilled.
