Accra-Tema Motorway project slightly behind schedule but 53% complete

Work on the first section of the Accra-Tema Motorway and Extensions Project is now 53 percent complete, but the project team admits it is slightly behind schedule.

The Chief Resident Engineer of Accra-Tema Expressway Limited (ATEL), Kwabena Bempong, gave the update on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 805 days after construction began in August 2024.

He said he was confident the contractor, Maripoma Enterprise Limited, would speed up work to meet the August 2027 completion date.

He spoke at a media engagement in Accra, where ATEL also launched a website for the project to carry updates on construction progress, traffic diversions, milestones and safety notices.

What has been done

The project covers about 27.7 kilometres. This includes a 19.5-kilometre section now under construction, a 5.7-kilometre stretch between Tetteh Quarshie and Apenkwa, and a 2.5-kilometre section of the N6 near the Tesano Police Station towards Achimota.

During a site inspection, Project Manager Benjamin Sackey said concrete structures are about 70 per cent complete and about four kilometres of road base has been laid and is ready for asphalt.

He added that two bridges on the urban highway section are finished, and seven footbridges are at different stages of construction, also mentioning that that two of the interchanges are substantially complete.

Mr Bempong said the first section will have a two-lane, access-controlled expressway running alongside an urban highway with three lanes in each direction. Some portions will widen to five lanes each way to make merging easier.

The works also include 20 box culverts, three bridges and improvements at the Tetteh Quarshie, Teshie, Community 18 and Lashibi interchanges, with pedestrian crossings.

He said these would improve access between communities on both sides of the road and cut down on unsafe crossings and turning movements.

Toll still undecided

ATEL’s Chief Executive Officer, Louis Harrison, said the motorway, which opened in 1965, now carries about 60,000 vehicles a day, far more than it was built for.

He said the project is meant to bring the road up to a standard that matches its importance to the economy.

The US$339 million project is being delivered under a 30-year public-private partnership toll-road concession. ATEL will finance, rebuild, expand, operate and maintain the road. The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) is sponsoring the project, and the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ghana Highway Authority are the public-sector partners.

Mr Harrison said the total financing requirement is about US$380 million, and the final structure will partly depend on the toll level. Parliament has approved the concession agreement, but the toll amount has not been set and will go to Parliament for consideration.

ATEL is also looking at local-currency loans from domestic banks to reduce foreign-exchange risk, and at long-term pension-fund financing for later sections.

Procurement for the second and third sections is under way. Mr Harrison said the plan is to overlap their implementation so the whole programme stays within 48 months.

Why it took long to get here

A member of the project’s Independent Project Advisory team, David Ofosu-Dorte, said the project went through several financing and procurement processes from 2019 before the current arrangement was settled.

He said early assessments found a funding gap of nearly US$100 million, and the cancellation of road tolls in November 2021 hurt investor confidence. The project was then split into phases so the first section could go ahead and set up financing for the rest.

GIIF’s Deputy Managing Director for Investment, Bennett Akantoa, said some members of the public have complained about how long the work is taking.

He hopes regular updates on the new website will help people follow progress. He added that the project fits President John Dramani Mahama’s plan to improve roads across the country.