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The Ministry of Works and Housing has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two construction firms to finish the Kaneshie drainage expansion and improvement project aimed at addressing the flood challenges in the area.
The two firms, Hydronomics Limited and Vuluxx Company Limited, have four weeks to mobilise and commence work.
Hydronomics Limited will handle Lot 1, which starts from Accra Academy to Pamprom junction (Nii Teiko Din Street) and the expected duration of works is 12 months, while Vuluxx Company Ltd will take over Lot 2, which is opposite Accra Academy (Ghana Police Station) to the South Kaneshie channel, through Osabiede Street, Ayikai Street and across the Ring Road W. Work on this stretch is expected to be done in 18 months.
At the signing ceremony, the Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said he would follow up to make sure what had been agreed on was done.
“In four weeks, I will be following up on you to be sure that you're on site. My expectation is that you can work on time and in accordance with the quality, paying attention to the designs that have been approved by the consultants and then providing them.
Mr Nkrumah, therefore, urged the contractors to escalate any form of challenge they face in the discharge of their duties so that it would be resolved as soon as possible.
“Again, our expectation is that you work in accordance with the work programme and work schedule so that we get the quality of work and the standard that we're looking for,” he stated.
He also urged them to remember that Kaneshie was a very dense area in terms of population and a very sensitive commercial space. “Just make sure that the alternative paths for access are well laid out. Also, particularly because it's a population-dense place, safety is something that is of a big deal to us,” Mr Nkrumah said.
Furthermore, he noted that funding was not a problem. “Thankfully, in terms of funding, we don't have a challenge, and so we expect you to work with speed in accordance with the standards that we have set,” he said.
Lot 1 consists of the demolition of the existing underground drain and the construction of a new cast-in-situ concrete double 5.0×2.0m cell underground box culvert, to be realised along the east-to-west carriageway of Dr Busia Highway. The approximate length of intervention is 1,955 m.
On the other hand, Lot 2 consists of the demolition of the existing open channel on Osabiede Street, and the construction of a new cast-in-situ concrete single 5.0×2.0m cell underground box culvert.
The approximate length of intervention is 2,300 m. This lot of works also includes the replacement of the existing vehicular South Kaneshie bridge (Abbosey Okai Street crossing over the South Kaneshie channel) with a new steel-concrete, simply supported, single 15m span (18m length) bridge.
