New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential hopeful, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has questioned the origins and feasibility of the newly announced Accra–Kumasi Expressway project, arguing that the government must first complete the existing dualisation project before embarking on a new one.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Agyapong wondered where the proposed expressway design was coming from, insisting that such technical work “does not take a day” to produce. He queried whether the proposed design had already been prepared by the Ghana Highway Authority or if the announcement was politically motivated.
According to him, discussions around an expressway linking Accra and Kumasi are not new. “These things have been there for years. I remember when we were in government, a group came and talked about this expressway. The old road was originally a footpath and was not properly engineered. When you check the Ghana map, you see that it turns before getting to Kumasi, making the journey unnecessarily longer,” he explained.
He added that any genuine plan for an expressway must include proper alignment studies, including whether the route should pass through areas such as Ada. “If it will be an expressway, then they have to determine the correct way to put the road, what we call the road alignment,” Mr. Agyapong stressed.
The former NPP General Secretary criticised successive governments for abandoning ongoing projects, noting that the dualisation of the existing Accra–Kumasi highway began under former President John Agyekum Kufuor. “When the NDC came into power, they left it. Then Akufo-Addo came to continue. Now that you are back into power, instead of completing the existing one, you are going to construct a new one,” he said.
Mr. Agyapong emphasised that Ghana’s infrastructure challenges stem largely from poor maintenance culture and discontinuity in governance. He urged the government to prioritise completing and maintaining the current highway project even if plans for a new expressway are pursued.
“Even if the old one is a highway, it still needs to be completed,” he added.
