Work on Ghana’s Bus Rapid Transit to start next month
The first phase of construction works under the country’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system would take off next month, the Urban Transport Project under the Department of Urban Roads announced on Monday.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Kwadwo Antwi, Head, Project Communication of the Urban Transportation Project, said the physical construction works include expansion of the Odaw Bridge, building of a fly-over at the railway intersection on the Graphic/Kaneshie Road and the demarcation and construction of the BRT lanes.
The BRT will serve a radial arterial route running from Kasoa in the Central Region through Malam and Kaneshie and terminate at the central business district in Accra.
Mr Antwi said between Kasoa and First Light at Kaneshie, the rapid buses would use the outer lanes whilst from Kaneshie to Accra the buses would use the median lanes.
He said the physical design work would also include the building of new overhead pedestrian crossings fitted with elevator to help commuters, especially the physically challenged, access to the bus terminal in the inner lane.
Mr Antwi said the whole project had been divided into phases and would last for about 18 months and the new system would be operational in 2012.
He said producing a design which accommodated the BRT scheme in an existing developed urban road transport system with serious traffic congestion had been a challenge.
Mr Antwi said most of the intersections along the route had complex layouts and suffered from serious congestion problems.
However, through the Road Safety Audit process, the Department of Urban Roads had adapted designs to maintain safety and also to produce an efficient new public transport system, he added.
The BRT service is expected to service about 12,000 passengers during peak hours per direction of travel with bus frequencies of about 120 buses per hour at peak periods.
He said the government would not buy any buses for the rapid transit system but rather help transport operators to acquire new and large buses, which would replace the existing small ones in the corridor.
On the involvement of Nigeria in the BRT systems, he said the role of Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, was to provide expert advice to about 35 Ghanaian stakeholders including officials of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), other transport operators and District and Metropolitan Chief Executives.
He said the Ghana/Nigeria BRT stakeholders’ forum was organised by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), regulators of the BRT for Lagos, in collaboration with the Department of Urban Roads as part of the process for resolving the initial misgivings by GPRTU.
Some transport operators, especially members of the GPRTU, initially resisted the introduction of BRT because of fears that once it became operational, its members would lose their jobs.
Mr Antwi said through the effort of the sector Ministers of Local Government and Rural Development, Roads and Transport, and the Greater Accra Regional Minister, the initial misgivings had been resolved.
“We are left with the last meeting after which a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed and issued to the press,” he said.
The GPRTU had threatened a mass sit-down strike in the Greater Accra Region if its grievances concerning the BRT system were not addressed before the take-off.
The GPRTU had described the BRT system as “a calculated attempt to stifle the private road transport sector, particularly, intra-city transport”.
Source: GNA