The Minority in Parliament has lauded the government for sustaining the Kumasi Inner Ring Road Improvement Project but insists the initiative was conceived and secured under the previous Akufo-Addo-led administration.
In a statement signed by the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Roads and Transport Committee, Kennedy Nyarko Osei, the opposition described the government’s decision to proceed with the project as “a hallmark of responsible governance.”
However, the Minority stressed that the groundwork for the project — recently announced under a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) — was laid before the change of government.
According to the statement, a JICA mission engaged Ghana’s Ministry of Finance in February 2024 for technical discussions, leading to the signing of a Minutes of Discussions document in September 2024, which “effectively sealed the deal.” The formal signing, the Minority added, had been scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in September 2025.
“The grant arrangements and protocols were all completed by the NPP administration,” the statement emphasized, noting that the project seeks to expand road capacity, ease congestion, and enhance safety on key sections of the Kumasi Inner Ring Road.
Mr. Osei and his colleagues further urged the government to demonstrate similar commitment to other major infrastructure projects initiated by the previous administration, including the Suame Interchange, the second phase of the Sunyani Road project, and the Konongo Bypass.
“For the people of Kumasi and the Ashanti Region, what matters most is not which government started a project, but continuity and delivery,” the statement added.
The Kumasi Inner Ring Road Improvement Project is part of a broader plan to fully dualize the city’s inner ring. Japan, through JICA, is funding the southern bypass, while the western bypass has been integrated into the ongoing Sunyani Road expansion project.