The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, says the government is dealing with illegal small-scale miners (Galamseyers) who are destroying sections of the bypasses being constructed on the Kumasi-Accra Highway.
He observed that the activities of the galamseyers were deteriorating a lot of the sections.
“A lot of the sections that had been worked on already are so much deteriorated by galamsey activities. At one of the stretches at the Osino bypass, the contractors continue to encounter galamseyers, but we have a way of dealing with them.
“I want to assure the contractors that the government stands solidly behind them, and as much as possible, we will continue to make resources available to them because this is a mega project being carried out by the government, and I believe that it will not stall,” he said when he inspected the ongoing project on Wednesday, 3 January 2024.
The by-passes; the 11.6Km Osino by-pass, the 6.1 Km Anyinam bypass, the 10.6Km Enyiresi by-pass and the 13.5K Konogo by-pass; are part of the ongoing efforts by the government to dualize the Accra-Kumasi highway to reduce vehicular traffic and accidents as well as enhance the free movement of goods and people.
So far the contractors have completed the clearing of the road alignment and are progressing with the construction of culverts, bridges, box culverts, pipe culverts and earthworks, the Minister said.
He expressed satisfaction with the progress of the work.