Kumasi by-pass project

Background

With an urban population growing at an average rate of 3.1% per year, urban needs have become one of

Ghana ’s main concerns. In this context, road traffic is part of the main challenges to be addressed by Government of Ghana through its Ministry of Roads and Highways (Department of Urban Roads).

 

Building additional road infrastructure to address this growing need and smoothen road traffic in urban areas is of particular importance to reduce environmental impact of traffic congestion and increase urban productivity.

Objectives

As Ghana’s second largest city, Kumasi is located at the centre of the main corridor linking Tema port to Burkina Faso and Mali. Kumasi is also one of the country’s major economic centre whose activity is structured around wood work. As part of the Metropolitan strategy, Kumasi’s Medium Term Development Framework highlights the need to decongest the city centre by better managing road traffic and completing the construction of the existing bypass.
 
The objectives of the project are as follows:
-          Finance the completion of the South-Eastern part of the Kumasi bypass and associated road works (widening of Lake Road and building an interchange),
-          Organise the relocation of the adjacent Anloga wood market to the Sokoban village,
-          Finance complementary measures, aiming at structuring and developing the wood workers’ activity after their relocation.  

Description

The project includes three components:
 
1-      Road works
 
These include the construction of the missing 3.2km South-eastern part of the existing by-pass, widening of the 2.7km part of Lake Road and the connection between both roads by the construction of an interchange.
 
2-      Sokoban wood workers’ village
 
Fitting out of the new wood workers’ Sokoban village includes servicing the land and building necessary access and internal road networks along with sheds. The Sokoban village will host 5.000 wood workers. Financial support to the wood workers is also provided through the 500.000 euros Community Development Fund (CDF) which caters for acquisition of additional land, site promotion activities, capacity building measures, additional working equipment and health sensitisation campaigns etc. Utilisation of the CDF is governed by an operational manual approved by the wood workers.
 
3-      Accompanying measures
 
Given the complexity to relocate 5.000 wood workers, the project includes the financing of a team (Resettlement Office) in charge of the follow-up. Support to the Department of Urban Roads is also included in the project’s financing.
 
The Department of Urban Roads is responsible for Project Management during project implementation period.

Financing plan

The project amounts to a total of 25.5 million euros over a period of 5 years, distributed as follows:
 
Component
AFD
Government
of Ghana
Total
Road works
13,500,000
 
13,500,000
Sokoban village
4,500,000
 
4,500,000
Technical assistance
1,600,000
 
1,600,000
Compensations
 
2,500,000
2,500,000
Contingencies
3,400,000
 
3,400,000
Total
23,000,000
2,500,000
25,500,000


Outcomes

-          The construction of additional road infrastructure will contribute to the reduction of traffic congestion and thus limit negative environmental impacts,
-          It will also contribute to increasing overall economic productivity of the city by reducing travel time,
-          On the other hand, the relocation of 5.000 woodworkers to an enhanced serviced site with accompanying measures to support it and additional equipment will allow for the development of this sector.
Last update in February 2013