The Mallam-Yamoransa road forms part of the Accra-Cape Coast road. The section from Accra to Mallam village is a three-lane asphalted road done in the NDC era. The single-lane section from Yamoransa to Cape Coast was also asphalted by the P/NDC Government.
What is left to be reconstructed and asphalted is the Mallam-Yamoransa section, which traverses the important townships of Kasoa, Awutu, Winneba Junction, Mankoadze Junction, Apam Junction, Ekutsi-Bogyano, Mankessim, Saltpond, Abandze, Anomabu, Biriwa, and Yamoransa.
On Wednesday, December 17, 2003, in two different front-page stories, both the 'Ghanaian Times' and the 'Daily Graphic' reported President Kufuor as cutting the sod for work to begin on the US$23 million Kasoa-Winneba road.
Then on Wednesday, December 24, 2003, exactly one week later, the two state-owned dailies again reported the President as cutting the sod for work to begin on the construction of the Mallam-Kasoa road.
To the uninitiated, the NPP Government had begun work on two road projects within one week. Meanwhile, it was the same road, the Mallam-Kasoa-Winneba Junction section of the Mallam-Yamoransa section of the Accra-Cape Coast road.
Excellent propaganda, needless cost.
What it means is that for that one road, if the propaganda blitz of the NPP in an election year is to continue, we may have over ten sod-cutting ceremonies. For the President will have to cut the sod for the Winneba Junction-Apam Junction section, the Apam Junction-Ekutsi-Bogyano section, the Ekutsi-Bogyano-Mankessim section, the Mankessim-Saltpond section, and so on, and so on.But this is a road for which the NDC Government had secured a US$90 million Japanese loan to reconstruct the entire road within 18 months, but which loan was cancelled once the Kufuor Government decided to go HIPC.
The other reason why President Kufuor had to create the impression of hectic activity on this road was that in his 'State of the Nation' Address delivered on February 13, 2003, he stated as follows
"I am happy to report that work has finally started on the construction of the arterial roads out of Accra ? Accra-Aflao, Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Mamfe, and in a few weeks' time, work will start on the Accra-Cape Coast road".
The "few weeks" turned out to be eleven months.
The Pantang-Mamfe Road
The 'Ghanaian Times' of Wednesday, February 4, 2004, reported that "the Pantang-Mamfe road gets first rehabilitation in 25 years".According to the story, President Kufuor cut the sod for major reconstruction work to begin on the 30-kilometre road, and that this is the first time in 25 years that the road is being rehabilitated despite its strategic location.
The story continued that the project was estimated to cost ?175.5 Billion and was expected to be completed in 27 months, and that the African Development Bank is supporting the project with a credit facility of ?127.5 Billion.
The truth however is that this Project is called the 'Tetteh Quarshie Circle-Mamfe Road Project'. It comprises three phases:
(1) The Tetteh Quarshie Flyover Interchange;
(2) The Tetteh Quarshie Circle-Pantang Dual Carriageway; and
(3) The Pantang-Mamfe Single Lane Asphaltic Road.
It is an NDC Project for which the NDC Government signed a US$25 million loan facility with the African Development on December 21, 2000.
Since it came to power, the NPP Government has tried all the tricks in the book to create the impression that the Project is its own. In 2002 alone, President Kufuor cut the sod for work on the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange twice. This year's sod cutting therefore makes it the third time that the sod is being cut for the same Project.
The NPP Government has also lied by trying to create the impression that whereas the NDC Government was going to construct the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange alone for US$25 million, the NPP Government has been able to cut the cost down to about US$10 million.
Yet as ex-NDC Minister of Roads and Highways Hon. Steve Accorley explained in a Radio Gold interview recently, it is the entire three-phase Project that was going to cost US$25 million.
The Tetteh Quarshie Interchange component is to cost a little over US$9 million. It is also known that upon excavation of the topsoil, the contractors, Sonitra, discovered that the entire basement of the Circle was made up of excellent, road-making granitic rock of the exact type required for the basement works for the Interchange.
Thus instead of excavating the site, evacuating the soil, and transporting new base rock and chippings to the site, Sonitra simply planted quarrying machinery at the site, thus producing the base material and the required chippings "in situ" and also avoiding the evacuation of any sub-soil. The savings made on this 'bonanza' or 'windfall profit' as they call it, has been enormous.
It would be interesting to know whether the Bill of Quantities was accordingly revised 'downwards', upon this 'finding', and if not, what has happened to the 'windfall profit'.
