The local roads component of the Suame Interchange Phase Two project will be fully completed and opened to traffic by October 2026, the Director-General of the Department of Urban Roads, Ing. James Oduro Amoo-Gottfried, has announced.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement in Kumasi on Friday, August 7, 2026, Ing. Amoo-Gottfried said the completion of the project would provide alternative routes for motorists and help reduce traffic congestion in the Suame area, one of Kumasi’s most notoriously gridlocked industrial and commercial hubs.
Project background and strategic importance
The Suame Interchange project is one of Ghana’s most ambitious urban road infrastructure undertakings. Sod was cut for the project in October 2022 by then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, with the initial scope designed as a four-tier interchange — the first of its kind in the Ashanti Region and only the second in Ghana after the Pokuase Interchange in Greater Accra. The project was originally estimated to cost €140 million for Phase One alone.
However, the project encountered significant headwinds. By early 2025, Phase One — the main interchange — was only 13 per cent complete, largely due to funding shortfalls and delays in relocating pipelines belonging to the Ghana Water Company Limited. The project nearly stalled entirely under the previous administration, with contractors owed close to $30 million in unpaid certificates.
Two phases, distinct components
Ing. Amoo-Gottfried explained that the project is being executed in two phases.
Phase One involves the construction of the main multi-tier interchange, including an overpass from the Suame Roundabout to Abrepo Junction, as well as the widening of the road along the Western Bypass. Originally designed as a four-tier structure, the project has since been revised to a three-tier interchange.
Phase Two, which is nearing completion, covers approximately 15 kilometres of local roads within the project’s area of influence and includes the construction of three overpasses at Anomangye, New Road and Ebusuakruwa. The phase also involves the widening of a 3.1-kilometre stretch of road.
Why Phase Two comes first
Ing. Amoo-Gottfried explained that Phase Two was being completed ahead of Phase One to provide alternative routes for motorists once major construction work begins on the main interchange corridor.
“Phase Two is almost complete, and hopefully by the end of October, we would have opened the road to traffic and allowed people to use it,” he said. He added that the overpasses would improve northbound traffic movement within the area and provide additional routes for motorists.
Abrepo Junction underpass to ease congestion
On the main corridor between Suame Roundabout and Abrepo Junction, the Director-General said the road would be widened to increase vehicular capacity and ease congestion. He noted that a grade-separated underpass would be constructed at Abrepo Junction, one of the busiest points along the corridor.
“Between Suame Roundabout and Abrepo Junction, we’ll widen the road to allow for more vehicles. But most importantly, at Abrepo Junction, which is a heavily congested area, we are going to grade-separate it and create an underpass,” he explained. “So when you are coming from Bantama, the hospital area, you go under straight to the Abrepo area. But when you are on the bypass, you’ll be on a level ground.”
Addressing right-of-way encroachment
The Director-General also addressed concerns over traders and other structures located within the project’s right of way. He said persons operating within the affected areas were there on a temporary basis and that the Suame Municipal Assembly would engage them to facilitate their relocation to allow construction works to proceed.
“We have engaged the assembly, and the assembly will deal with them. For some of them, the assembly is the one that had the arrangement for them to be there temporarily. So the assembly will deal with them to move out, so that we can do the work,” he stated. “The time is now for us to do it, so that we can all be comfortable. It’s almost immediate.”
Financial breakthrough and 2028 target
The project received a major boost in April 2026 when the government, under President John Dramani Mahama, settled $29.5 million in outstanding arrears owed to contractors and approved an additional GH₵3 billion to accelerate construction. Roads and Highways Minister Kwame Governs Agbodza confirmed that the full interchange project is now targeted for completion by the end of 2028.
“We are still back on schedule to complete the interchange itself. We are not taking a cedi out of the interchange project; we are rather adding GH₵3 billion to enhance it,” Mr Agbodza said during an inspection tour in April 2026.
