Kaneshie road closure faces pushback: Works Minister demands faster completion timeline to ease Accra congestion

Ghana's Works and Housing Minister Ahmed Ibrahim has challenged the planned 12-month closure of a major stretch of the Winneba–Accra road at Kaneshie, arguing that such an extended shutdown could cripple traffic flow in the capital and demanding a compressed timeline of six to nine months instead.

The temporary closure of approximately 1.5 kilometres of road—from Kaneshie Roundabout to Accra Academy—is scheduled to begin next week to enable contractors to carry out essential engineering works aimed at improving the road's condition. However, Minister Ibrahim's concerns reflect broader anxieties about the feasibility and impact of the project on Accra's already congested transport network.

During a site inspection, Mr Ibrahim warned that shutting down one of Accra's most heavily trafficked corridors for a full year could trigger chaos on surrounding routes and inflict severe hardship on the thousands of commuters, traders and businesses that depend on the road daily. "If we start, there will be a lot of inconvenience. The situation will be chaotic," he cautioned.

A call for coordinated government response

A critical aspect of the Minister's intervention is his insistence that the project requires buy-in and coordination across multiple government agencies, not unilateral action by a single ministry. He stressed that the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Finance Ministry, National Security Ministry and the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council must align on mitigation strategies before work commences.

"I'm not the Minister for Roads, I'm not the Finance Minister, and I'm not the National Security Minister. All these ministers need to be convinced and understand the effect of what is going to happen here," Mr Ibrahim said, underscoring the complexity of managing a closure of this scale in the nation's capital.

The Minister emphasised that adequate arrangements—particularly around traffic diversion—must be in place ahead of the project launch to prevent the closure from exacerbating existing congestion challenges in greater Accra. To date, authorities have not unveiled detailed plans for managing traffic flow during the construction period, leaving commuters and business owners in a state of uncertainty.

Why it matters for Ghana

The Kaneshie–Accra Academy stretch of the Winneba–Accra road is a critical artery for daily mobility in Ghana's capital. Any extended closure has immediate ripple effects: increased travel times, delayed commercial deliveries, lost productivity, and heightened pressure on alternative routes already under strain.

Accra's traffic congestion is a long-standing challenge that affects economic productivity, public health (via air pollution from idling vehicles) and citizens' quality of life. While road rehabilitation projects are necessary for long-term infrastructure improvement, their execution must balance the urgency of repairs against the real-time costs imposed on millions of commuters and businesses.

The Minister's push to compress the timeline from 12 months to 6–9 months reflects this tension. If achievable, a shorter closure period would meaningfully reduce disruption. However, the absence of detailed diversion plans and the lack of inter-agency coordination so far suggest that stakeholders are still scrambling to assess and prepare for the impact. Ghanaians relying on this route—from commercial drivers to office workers—will be watching closely for clarity on traffic management and realistic project timelines before the closure begins.