Contractors working on the Accra-Kumasi Highway project are facing significant challenges due to illegal mining activities in the area. The project, which includes four bypasses at Osino, Anyinam, Enyiresi, and Konongo, aims to reduce congestion and crashes on the highway.
However, illegal miners have left huge pits uncovered in communities near the project sites, hindering progress and creating swampy areas that are worsened by rainfall. The contractors are forced to fill the swampy areas with boulders, adding to the project’s costs and delays.
The team leader of STIM Limited, the consulting firm for the Osino bypass, Dolittle Kwaku Sintim-Aboagye, highlighted compensation payments and adverse rainfall as additional challenges affecting the project’s progress. Sintim-Aboagye explained that the project’s alignment goes through mining companies’ terrace ponds, requiring the decommissioning of these ponds, which is taking time.
He also mentioned that the area is a farming community, leading to compensation issues, but the Ghana Highways Authority and the ministry are helping to resolve these issues. The rains have become more severe than usual, further affecting the project’s progress, Sintim-Aboagye added.
Despite these challenges, the contractors are working hard to complete the project, which is expected to reduce travel time on the highway once finished. The government has urged the public to support the project and warned illegal miners to stop their activities, which are causing harm to the environment and hindering development.
