IMF bailout, DDEP to blame for stalled interchanges – Ministry of Roads

The Head of Public Relations at the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Nasir Ahmed Yartey, has indicated that the stalled road interchanges across the country are a result of the country’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal and the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Some key interchanges across the country that yet to be completed include the Obetsebi Lamptey interchange, Flower Pot Interchange, Tema Motorway interchange, Nungua Barrier Interchange, Kumasi Suame Interchange, and the Takoradi PTC interchange (which is about 75 percent complete).

In an interview with Bernard Avle on Citi FM in Accra on Monday, Mr. Yartey said, “Before the IMF and the debt exchange programme, we got into as a country, you agree with me that all these interchanges that you referred to were moving at similar paces, and they were moving very fast. It is the IMF and the debt exchange that has affected them and slowed them down.”

Mr. Yartey said works on the Flower Pot interchange are expected to be completed by the end of March 2024, as the only challenge is the construction of the bridge over the motorway. Once that is done, other works will not take much time.

“The Flower Pot interchange is on schedule to be completed. The major hurdle now is the construction of the bridge over the motorway. We issued a press release on it this morning, and work is going on over there very seriously. Once we are done with the construction of the bridge over the motorway, what will be left will be the groundwork, road work, and other things.

“Those ones don’t take much time. The concrete ones don’t take much time, so once we are done with that one, we should be finishing that project on schedule. The project is scheduled to be completed early next year, so we are looking at somewhere by the end of the first quarter or the second quarter of next year,” he said.

The Head of PR at the Ministry of Roads and Highways reiterated that works on the Obetsebi-Lamptey interchange, Nungua, and PTC interchanges had been affected by the DDEP, and that the government was currently in talks with its financiers to get the project running.

“That one (Obestebi-Lamptey interchange) together with Nungua and PTC in Takoradi have been affected by the debt exchange that we’ve entered into. As I speak to you, the government is negotiating with its financiers to see how best we can get these projects back running, and we are hoping that before the year ends, we should be hearing some good news and getting the contractors back,” he stated.