SMEC has been contracted by the Ghana Highway Authority to complete a safety framework report and action plan for the road corridor which connects Port Tema on the southern coast of Ghana with the landlocked countries to the north, Burkina Faso and Mali.
The corridor is 1,950 km long and passes through several regions of differing demographic and geographic character, with populations of diverse ethnicity and religious backgrounds. In the project area, English is spoken in the south, French in the north.
Speeding and driver fatigue are two predominant safety problems along the corridor and there are regional issues such as the safety of motor cyclists in Burkina Faso and the adverse interaction between vendors and vehicles in the market areas in Ghana. In regards to the latter, the project also includes a survey of socio-economic baseline data in selected market areas.
This project, expected to last 11 months, will be undertaken in association with Delin Consult in Ghana and Techni Consult in Burkina Faso and Mali. SMEC has expanding interests in Ghana and this project provides the opportunity to also establish in Burkina Faso and Mali which are part of the UEMOA economic community, a group of five West African countries where there is increasing investment in the transport sector.