Residents of Kumasi heaved a sigh of relief when after many years of complains, work began on the 400 metre stretch of road linking the Airport roundabout to the Dichemso suburb of the Garden City. The albatross on the necks of motorists who have had to meander through the “manholes” just in front of Jofel Catering Services was soon to be a thing of the past. The contractor got to work in June 2011 and the pace of work was so fast that residents passed interesting comments such as “this road is being constructed by Atta Mills himself”. It’s been almost a year now and the project which was to be completed in just about three months still hangs in the balance. The road is currently in a much deplorable state than it had been before construction began – the stretch is arguably deemed the most dangerous place to drive in Kumasi. At the onset, the project contractor partially completed half of the dual carriage road to allow vehicles to ply while work on the other half continued. However, work soon stalled and the partially completed portion which had been open to traffic started deteriorating. After months without any sight of the contractor on site and no information on the schedule for project completion, the Urban Roads Department in Kumasi announced the project had been taken away from the contractor, Facol Engineering limited. The project has now been awarded to China Geo Engineering Corporation. The Urban Roads Department cited incompetence as reason for terminating Facol’s contract. But this has not gone down well with Asabea Engineering Limited, which was sub-contracted by Facol to work on the Airport Round About-Dichemso stretch. Managing Director of Asabea Engineering, Ofori Larbi voiced his frustration on Nhyira fm’s flagship political talk show, Kukurantumi, stating that Facol Engineering sublet part of the project to his company in June 2011. Asabea Engineering was to construct three bridges, and all concrete and earth works, whilst Facol Engineering completed the asphalting. Work was to be completed in just three months due to the urgency to complete the stretch which is part of the Eastern bypass. Heavy duty vehicles en-route to the northern part of Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and other landlocked countries in the north all use the eastern bypass. The total cost of the project, including the resurfacing of portions of the KNUST -Anloga Junction stretch was Gh₵5million. According to Mr. Larbi, the initial design presented to him by the Urban Roads Department was inappropriate because of the waterlogged nature of the area. Implementing the design, he said, would limit the lifespan of the completed project. Consequently Asabea Engineering proposed changes to almost every aspect of the design, which was accepted by the Urban Roads Department for work to begin. Mr Larbi said due to the changes made, a Variation Order (VO) was to be prepared by the Urban Roads Department and sent to Accra for approval. The VO will encompass additional accruing as a result of the design change in the final cost of the project. The contractor however says the local engineers failed to submit the VO, six months after urban roads in Accra ordered the VO to be prepared. This left Asabea Engineering and Facol engineering in a fix because of uncertainty in payment for project execution. In spite of this, Asabea Engineering continued work for some months because of the urgency of the project, said Mr. Larbi. At a point however, neither Facol nor Asabea could raise enough funds to go on with the project, because the mobilization fund had not been paid eight months after the peripheral aspects of the project had been completed. According to Mr. Larbi, this forced him to pull out his equipment from the project site as he could no longer continue work because the VO had not been raised and he ran out of funds. The rains later set in; water seeped through the gravel and the cross rocks erected on the road, sweeping them away and destroying all the earthworks. Speaking on Joy Fm’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, Roads Minister Joe Gidisu repeated claims Facol Engineering lost the project because of incompetence. Luv News visit to the site indicates a very worrying situation which could result in a calamity if construction does not continue immediately. One land of the partially completed side has already caved in, leaving just a single lane through which a saloon car can barely ply. The single lane is so undulating that heavily loaded articulated trucks have serious challenges passing through. Residents tell Luv News some trucks have actually toppled over, but luckily there were no casualties. It is only a matter of time before the country records casualties in a fatality that could rock the site if the road is not fixed as early as possible.