A total of 25 out of 50 bridges being constructed under an agreement between the governments of Ghana and Czech Republic will be handed over to the Ministry of Roads and Highways by the end of March this year.

The project is expected to enhance the daily activities of residents who are currently facing difficulties in commuting from one place to another.

The Project Manager for Knights Ghana Limited, the subsidiary company of Knights a.s of the Czech Republic, Mr Solomon Andoh, made this known when a Czech delegation visited the Tema bridge site to inspect the ongoing construction.

The delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Martin Tlapa, and the Czech Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Jan Fury.

In 2007, Knightsa.s. of the Czech Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Transportation to provide the government of Ghana with 200 Composite Modular Steel Bridges ranging from 20metres span to 50metres span.

In April 2019, Knights a.s. finally signed the contract agreement with the Ministry of Roads and Highways for 50 bridges, the first tranche of the 200 bridges to be executed.

On the same day, a Czech Republic bank, Ceskoslovenska Obchodni bank, signed the loan agreement for the project with the Ministry of Finance.

Work on the various bridge projects started in June 2020 and is scheduled to be completed this year.

Throwing light on the project, Mr Andoh said ongoing work at Tema Community 12 in the Greater Accra Region was 80 percent complete.

 When completed, he explained that the project would create a third access to Tema from Accra, making it easier for residents in Tema Community 11 and 12 to travel to Accra within a short period of time. 

According to Mr Andoh, the distance between Tema Community 11 and 12 to Accra would be 16 kilometres shorter when the bridge is completed.

On the other bridge projects, Mr Andoh explained that work had begun and the company was on schedule to finish and hand them over to the Ministry of Roads and Highways for public use.

He mentioned some of the sites as Okwenya, Akuse in the Eastern Region, Okrudu at Kasoa in the Central Region, as well as Weija in the Greater Accra Region, all of which are at various stages of completion. 

The Head of Czech Trade Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Czech Republic, Mr Martin Tlapa, who is in Ghana for a bilateral negotiations of trade related activities said the delegation wanted to see the progress of work being executed by Knights a.s. of the Czech Republic.

He said the bilateral relationship between Ghana and Czech Republic was strong and expressed the hope that more projects could be embarked on by the two countries.

The Czech Republic Ambassador to Ghana, Jan Fury, saidhe had the opportunity to meet with the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako-Atta, last year and that the Minister expressed his satisfaction with the quality of work being executed by Knights a.s. of the Czech Republic.

He said the Minister of Roads and Highways also assured him of the ministry’s willingness to continue with 100 more bridges this year, the second and third phases of the project.