Kwame Nkrumah interchange will ease traffic - Mahama

President John Mahama has said that the Kwame Nkrumah interchange is expected to facilitate easy transportation for commuters in Accra.

He noted that the project will make road transportation to and fro Accra very comfortable, which will also impact positively on productivity.

The President in his speech at the inauguration stated that his administration is committed to improving the transportation system in the country and is working feverishly towards that objective.

“Lack of traffic flow [at Circle] resulted in an estimated loss of about 100 million dollars per annum to our national economy,” he said.

“This is the longest flyover and the highest in West Africa…please note I said flyover, the longest bridge is in Lagos, Nigeria but the longest and highest flyover is in Accra, Ghana.”

“Time is a precious invaluable commodity and once spent, it cannot be recovered. Effective use of time, therefore, has a direct impact on our economy and must be calculated as a contribution to our GDP.”

“With the opening of this interchange on which at peak hours is used by about 80,000 vehicles and daily it is estimated to be used by about 200,000 vehicles, reducing travelling time between the Ring Road Central and Feo Oyeo Intersection towards the North Industrial Area from two hours to just approximately five minutes, not only are we saving hundreds of millions of cedis in time wasted by the delay and the travel time, but we are also stimulating business and economic activity,” he added.

The GH?320.2 million project was jointly financed by the Brazilian government and the government of Ghana.

The Kwame Nkrumah interchange is a key intersection in the major road network in Accra.

More here: Kwame Nkrumah Circle to be opened to traffic play

It carries about 84,000 vehicles a day and constitutes a key bottleneck in the major road network that links the suburban areas of Accra to the central business district.

President Mahama cut the sod for the construction of the three-tier interchange at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra in October, 2013.