Clearing of the right of way for the Kumasi Expressway has surpassed 70 kilometres, President John Dramani Mahama has announced, with the 48th Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces leading the work and compensation payments already being made to farmers and property owners along the route.
President Mahama disclosed the progress on Monday while receiving a courtesy call from the Bono Regional House of Chiefs at the Jubilee House, where he gave a detailed account of infrastructure projects underway across the Bono region and beyond under the government’s Big Push programme.
He said when he travelled recently, the regiment had cleared 51 kilometres, and the pace had since accelerated beyond 70 kilometres.
“We have started clearing the right of way, and we gave that contract to the 48th Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, who are doing a fantastic job,” President Mahama said.
Once the clearing is complete, the right of way will be handed over to the main contractor for construction to begin.
The President said compensation payments to all persons whose farms or properties fall within the corridor were already underway.
The expressway, when completed, will cut the travel distance between Kumasi and destinations in the Bono region from 270 kilometres to 198 kilometres.
President Mahama said a comfortable drive from Kumasi to Dormaa Ahenkro or Sunyani should take no more than two hours once the road is in place.
“This road will reduce travel distance from 270 kilometres to 198 kilometres. Comfortably, if you are going to Dormaa Ahenkro or Sunyani, that Kumasi stretch should not take you more than two hours,” he said.
The Kumasi Expressway is among the flagship projects under Phase One of the Big Push programme, which the President said had directed most of its initial funding toward the road sector after the administration inherited what he described as a road network in deep crisis despite claims of thousands of kilometres constructed under the previous government.
President Mahama also disclosed that several roads in the Bono region had been captured under Phase One of the Big Push, saying the region had received a significant share of road infrastructure allocations.
Additional roads were being scoped for Phase Two, which he said would begin in the 2027 budget.
He specifically mentioned the Akyeremasu-Gambia road as one earmarked for Phase Two, describing it as an important route that would be captured in the next round of funding.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
