The contractor tasked with the Ofankor-Nsawam road project has received all payments owed him, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Agbodza, has disclosed.

The Minister revealed this during an inspection tour of the project with President John Mahama on Wednesday, September 3. According to the Roads and Highways Minister, the government has fully met its financial obligations to the contractor, including all outstanding debts owed by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

"Your Excellency, when you assumed office, the majority of the road contractors were off-site because they raised certificates to the tune of over GHS30,000m were not paid, so they were not on site. Including the contractor working on this project.

"You directed that we do whatever we can to make sure they return to the site. Genuinely, people who ply this corridor were going through a lot of difficulties, and you expressed clearly that it wasn't what we wanted, and you directed that all resources should be mobilized to ensure the contractor is paid to continue the work.

"Indeed, Mr President, at the time you took office, the contractor raised a certificate of almost $78m before NPP left power, and they did not pay him. So it was surprising that just after you took office, people were expecting that what they couldn't do over that period, you would do it. Guess what, Mr President, you did it, as of today, every certificate owed to the contractor on this project has been paid entirely. So we don't owe the contractor any amount on this project," he added.

Project Manager for the Pokuase-Nsawam Highway project, Ing. Awuku Asare, while engaging the President, confirmed receiving a recent payment from the government.

He assured that construction works on the project will be completed in June 2026, as 75% of the work has already been done.

"With your support and that of the Minister, the contractor has received some funding, and for the past two weeks, we have been working tirelessly. The areas where we had some challenges, where we saw on social media, we are currently almost at the level of asphalt, and then after we will continue all the way to the end," he noted.

In response, President John Mahama has directed the contractor to meet the project deadline, stressing that no excuses will be accepted thereafter.

The project contractor had earlier expressed pessimism about his outfit being able to complete the road project within nine (9) months. According to him, his team is confronted with several challenges that may necessitate a request for an extension of the completion deadline.

Among the difficulties he highlighted, Ing. Awuku Asare explained that completing the interchange alone would likely take about seven months out of the proposed nine-month duration.

According to him, by the seventh month, they might not have even “completed the top” of the interchange.

“Within 2 or 23 weeks, you must be done with the basic maintenance. Yeah, we have up to May 2026 to complete it, and if there are any snags, they will definitely ask for an extension. And I’m telling you one snag—it’s going to take us about 7 months to complete the interchange.

'But now, if the compensation is done and we are going to count another 3 months up to November, it means we are going to start from November. Then November to May is about 7 months; we wouldn’t have completed the top. Then we… so there will be a basis to ask for any extension if it comes like that…,” he noted.

Another setback that may delay the completion of the project is the legal tussle with affected persons, some of whom have taken the government to court over their eviction, citing delays in compensation.

“Talking about this compensation, we have to—there are some individuals who have sent us to court. In fact, they wanted to even put an injunction on the construction works. But we just had a letter from the engineer, who is the Highway Authority, that the court didn’t grant. So we can go ahead and do the demolitions and complete them,” he added.

He further mentioned that the ongoing relocation of electricity cables, which were found in the right-of-way, remains another challenge that must be resolved before full-scale work can continue.

“…So that challenge is there. There are also some electricity lines and water lines in the right-of-way. They have all encroached on the right-of-way, and it shouldn’t have happened like that,” he continued.

In July this year, Parliament unanimously endorsed the government’s proposal to divert all royalties from oil revenues and mineral resources to support the implementation of the Big Push Programme.

This decision followed a request by the government for parliamentary approval to commit funds for the construction of specific road projects.

According to the Joint Committee on Budget and Finance, “The Committee has carefully considered the Referral, and it thinks that the request is in the right direction. The Committee also noted that Parliament had already approved the policy and the allocation to the ‘Big Push’ Programme in the 2025 Budget Statement. Granting the request would enable the Government to enter into multi-year contracts to execute the road infrastructure projects under the Programme.”

“The Committee accordingly recommends to the House to approve the Request for the multi-year commitments for the selected road projects under the ‘Big Push’ Programme contained in the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review of the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana, under Section 33 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, (Act 921).”

The initiative, aimed at improving road infrastructure nationwide, is estimated at GH¢13.8 billion. It is expected to be completed by 2028 with support from the country’s financial resources.

According to the 2025 budget, the Road Fund owes GH¢5.75 billion, with GH¢2.81 billion allocated for road maintenance. This represents a 155.5% increase from the 2024 allocation of GH¢1.1 billion, underscoring the government’s emphasis on sustaining Ghana’s road network.

With Ghana’s economy valued at GH¢1.2 trillion, stakeholders are closely monitoring how the government balances infrastructure expansion with financial obligations. Earlier this year, Minister for Roads and Highways Kwame Governs Agbodza revealed that the government would settle GH¢4 billion of the debt owed to road contractors.

Currently, the government owes road contractors GH¢21 billion, according to the Minister. President John Dramani Mahama has also announced plans to begin paying part of this debt within the month.

“The Ministry of Finance has made dedicated financial allocations to address a substantial portion of the outstanding debts. We expect this to bring much-needed relief to the contractors and help accelerate the delivery of critical infrastructure,” the President stated.

Construction works on the stalled Pokuase-Nsawam Highway project resumed in August this year after several months of halt. Work resumed after the government released GH¢809 million on August 4, 2025, enabling the contractor to return to the site and fully mobilize.