Announcement of Road Studies in Ghana on July 7, 1967

Ji HOLD FOR RELEASE \ . ~ r • 1818 H STREET. N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 For Publication in Subject: Road Studies in Ghana AM Newspapers Friday, July 7, 1967 The Government of Ghana, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank have signed an agreEmient providing for feasibility and preliminary engineering studies for the improvement of two of the most important trunk roads in Ghana. The United Nations Development Programme has allocated $426,000 to cover the foreign exchange costs of the studies. The local currency costsJ,which will amount to the equivalent of $266,000, will be met by the Government of Ghana. The World Bank is Executing Agency for the project. The Government has retained the Swedish consulting firm of Kjessler and Mannerstrale, A.B. of Stockholm to undertake the studies. The consultants began their field work in Ghana in May and tl~e studies are scheduled for completion in 15 months. Ghana's present road netwc,rk consists of 17,000 miles of which nearly a third fonn the country's trunk road system. Development of Ghana's road system, and particularly of the trunk roads, has been hampered by the lack of studies that would provide adequate traffic forecasts, estjlmates of construction costs and de- tail~d information on economic justification. While Ghana has a general develop- ment plan for trunk roads, there is urgent need to prepare specific projects on the basis of feasibility studies. The Government has assigned high priority to the improvement of two important ,north-south routes and the World Bank economic mission to Ghana of 1966 concurred  - 2 - • with this decision. The first road would run from the capital of Accra and its adjoining port of Tema up to Kumasi, the junction of the main traffic routes to the northern two-thirds of the country. The second road would improve the important connection between Kumasi and the port of Takoradi on the western part of the coast. Traffic on the two existing roads is heavy despite the poor condition of the roads. The proposed new links would provide shorter and better connections and considerably reduce vehicle operating costs. Since there are a number of possible alternative alignments for both routes, the feasibility studies now to be undertaken will include a choice of alignments based on an analysis of traffic needs, origin and destination surveys, estimates of the costs and benefits of alternative alignments, and studies of the typography of the region. Preliminary engineering of the two • roads will then be undertaken; these will include field surveys of the selected alignments, and the preparation of cost estimates based on preliminary estimates of the construction work involved • •