Rehabilitation of road Adwufia section Sefwi Wiawso-Osei Kojokrom (Development Phase)

The Sefwi Wiawso-Osei Kojokrom Road is situated in a strategically important cocoa and timber rich area in the Western Region of Ghana. Practically all crops cocoa and timber are transported by road and no alternative mode of transportation is available in the region. The Western region is lagging behind the two other industrial regions, Greater Accra and Ashanti. Despite the relatively high density of roads the Western region road network is in a bad condition because the greater proportion of the network is unpaved and with the high rainfall in the region the road network is unstable. During the rainy season traffic is most of the time either slow or not possible at all due to the eroded surface and mud. These issues result in economic losses for this already poor agricultural area. The project is defined as the rehabilitation and subsequent use of the trunk road from Benchema to Adwufia from an unpaved road to a double bituminous surface treatment including a bridge over the Bia river and the provision of a weighing station, and training of employees (for maintenance and construction) as well as annual and periodic maintenance. The number of people living in the project region is 485000 consisting mainly of small poor self-employed farmers. The trunk road is the main and only entrance road to the region. Improving overall road maintenance and rehabilitating farm-to-market roads would lower the current significant transportation costs and integrate rural economies with the urban economy. Phase 1 of this project rehabilitation of the part Sefwi Wiawso-Benchema junction took place in the period between 2005 and 2008. Phase 3 of the project concerns the section between Adwufia and the Ivory border. This phase is expected to start after completion of phase 2.