The Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has directed the contractor handling the Tema Roundabout–Tetteh Quarshie Interchange project to introduce night shifts and increase the pace of construction to ensure the project is delivered on time.

The Minister says the contractor, Maripoma Enterprise Limited, must take advantage of the government’s 24-hour economy initiative to speed up work on the 19.5-kilometre stretch, which is currently marginally behind schedule.

Mr Agbodza made the call on Wednesday, August 19, during an inspection of road projects in the Greater Accra Region.

He wants activities that cause major disruptions to traffic to be undertaken largely at night, while less disruptive work is carried out during the day.

He also asked the contractor to maintain clearly marked lanes to allow motorists to move through the construction zone during daytime.

“There’s no reason why you cannot work even more at night than the day,” the Minister said.

Mr Agbodza acknowledged the progress made since his previous inspection, saying activity at the project site had increased significantly.

He particularly praised the contractor for completing the main bridge without any incident involving road users, despite the location being one of the busiest intersections in the capital.

The Minister, however, stressed that the contractor must now raise the tempo to prevent further delays.

He said commuters had endured the disruption for a considerable period and expected the project to be completed within the agreed timeframe.

The project is currently about 50% complete, according to the project engineer, Ing. Kwabena Bempong.

He expressed confidence that the remaining works could be completed on schedule, particularly as the more challenging foundation works have largely been dealt with.

Mr Agbodza said completing the remaining pavement works should now be faster and urged the contractor to use the opportunity to make up for lost time.

The project forms part of efforts to improve traffic flow along the busy Tema–Accra corridor, where construction activities have continued to affect motorists.