Ghana - Cities, Landscape and People | Country Gallery

[muhana]

Accra is beautiful!

[apollojoe]

Kasapa, I think your captions are tasteless!!!! You need to either polish them up or quit!!!

[DanteXavier]

[DanteXavier]

[DanteXavier]

[DanteXavier]

[DanteXavier]

[DanteXavier]

[DanteXavier]

[rockin'.baltimorean]

i love ghana. wonderful people!!

[apollojoe]

Dante Xavier, your photos of Accra are horrible!

[Kasapa]

Forwards Forever... Backwards never...



Ghana's oldest lighthouse


Central Post Office

Central Business District



Longlife light bulbs. Eco-friendly... I Guess...


Accra - From here I see green everywhere...




Labadi Beach Hotel


International Conference Centre


Out of Accra - Elimina.




Unspoilt beach in Ada.


Action Church - If I am ever reincarnated, please let me come back as a priest. . (Religion #1 growth industry in Africa.)



Ghana's symbol of Freedom and Justice.

The Black Star Monument (Viewed from all angles)








Lets have some fun: Its footie time.

Ehhhh... all those flags... Can this driver see where he is going?


Hurry up it is getting dark. Start the game! Ohene Gyan Stadium - Accra


They seem happy! Ahhh... Ghana must have won the football match! Accra goes crazy.

[Kasapa]

Akwaaba...


A bit cheesy: See the passion, feel the warmth...

[popa1980]

Nice photos. I havent been to Ghana since 1999, has much changed?

I still sometimes feel Accra will be hard to develop because of the enroachment near roads and since the colonials left town planning has went out the window. Th city has spread so much- this makes infrastructure more difficult and expensive than if it was a compact city. Ghanaians need to stop the love affair with bungalows and build upwards! This will help put a stop to the urban sprawl.

[Kasapa]

I havent been to Ghana since 1999, has much changed?

Well, Ghana as a whole is changing. Especially the road network is being seriously upgraded and the general quality of the inter-city and some city roads has greatly improved. The problem is that the infrastructure of Ghana has been badly neglected for a good 30 years so most of the changes being done now are not immediately visible since they are basic foundation building and improvements that should have been done a long time ago.

There are improvements in all sectors, but sadly some would say; not fast enough. The only thing that will stop the progressive development of Ghana is the will of the politicians. That has always being our problem.

I have so many documents and information on projects that are being undertaking to redevelop Ghana and Accra, but I hardly have the time to post them on the web.

I still sometimes feel Accra will be hard to develop because of the encroachment near roads and since the colonials left town planning has went out the window.

You are right on both counts. Accra will be hard to develop, but not impossible.

The Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) has implemented many so-called ‘decongestion’ exercises in the last 2 years. But every time, after a period of about 1 month the street of Accra look cleaner and quieter with the hawkers, illegal structures and market traders removed. But, such is the poor enforcement of project plans by the AMA and the will of the various authorities that these elements (hawkers and illegal structure) reappear in a short space of time!

This however does not negate the positive things that are happening. The newest thing I am really excited about is the dedicated BRT route system that will be introduced within the next 2.5 years. The operation of trotros according to the plan will be formalised and standardised to complement the BRT system (I intend to post the details later).
Work has already started on the first BRT route. Hopefully the implementation of the BRT and another projected called the Accra ‘Fingers’ Rail network will reduce traffic congestion in Accra and give people a quicker and better way to move around the city.

On the encroachment issue, the road network in Accra and all around Ghana is really improving forwards, with all major road in the cities being widened to dual carriageways, new interchanges are being built and/or have been planned in order to improve the flow of traffic around the city and pavements are being laid. Even cycle route have been factored into the plans. A lot of the local roads are been maintained (i.e. pothole are regularly filled) but there are still a lot of local roads which are still not tarred. This has to be improved.

Let me give you an example. In order to rebuild and widen the inter city routes from Accra to Takoradi and Accra to Kumasi the government marked all houses and structures that were illegal (and sometime legal) encroaching on the planned routes (plans original laid out 40 years ago in some cases) with a big red X. That 'X' denoted that the structures were to be demolished. True to their word they removed and demolished all encroaching structures and proceeded with the construction of the roads.

Hence now from Accra to Kasoa there is a fabulous 6 lane carriageway and then a smooth road all the way to Takoradi. From Nkrumah circle to Tantra Hills is a 4 lane highway with extensive work on a further 4 lane highway (including a dual carriageway bypass at Nsawam and Kyebi) under construction, continuing with a smooth road all the way to Kumasi. The journey time to these and other cities have been dramatically reduced.

The same thing was done for the road from Tema to Sagakope and then to Aflao as well as the dual carriageway from Mallam to Aburi. In fact if you want buy prime land for any future private residence I will suggest the Aburi Hills, since, very soon it would be a 45 min max journey to the centre of Accra. Even a new dual carriage road has been constructed up the Aburi/Akwapim hills (Dramatic views).

So you see, these encroachment issue are not really a problem whenever/if the government decides to do something about it. They are not insurmountable.

I mean, if President Kufuor legacy is ever questioned he can always point to the implementation of the road infrastructure improvements as his main legacy.

But, as some will say: We don't eat roads! However I will say: Without roads you don't eat. Period!

Well on the issue of the colonials and town planning, I guess you have a point. I will say since 1970 town planning in Ghana has been a fat zero. Successive governments have not thought hard enough about what is needed to create a world class city.

In fact let’s go back to Nkrumah's time. Before the CPP came to power in 1957, the British had laid out a beautification plan for the city, which clearly demarcated the commercial and business districts as well as the recreational and residential districts. The major plank of the British plan; included public parks and green zones. Nkrumah decided to 'tear up' the script and introduced the ideas of monuments and concrete public spaces such as independence square etc. Hence the British idea was never fully implemented.
Do not get me wrong, there was nothing intrinsically wrong with Nkrumah's development plan either, after all we ended up building the Tema motorway at the same time the UK was building their first motorway (M1).

But, the problem has been that successive governments have failed to implement either the colonial (British) plan or the Nkrumah plan or even a combination of the two.

However, I think I can safely say that this government is really giving the implementation of these old plans a good go. Additionally, they are adding their own twist and ideas and that is refreshing to see.

A bit like you, I left Ghana for a long time and returned in 2000. To my horror nothing had changed. The roads that I travelled on 20 years before were the same old roads. The layout had not change and pot holes where still the same old one. Accra had sprawled with no sense of direction and the only thing making Accra liveable was the individual will of the people to ensure that even if the government did not provide the necessary infrastructure they will make sure that they built decent houses to live in.

8 years on and I can say that things are changing.

The individual enterprise of Ghanaians is still the major factor dictating the look and feel of the city (country) since most new developments are still the creations of private enterprise/entrepreneurs. In many ways, this is the reason why you do not see skyscrapers every where in Accra. A private investor does not have the money build lavish scrapers, but he or she may build a nice residence or sale/rent, a 5 storey office block, a low rise block of apartments or a small scale but well kept hotel complex etc etc.

However the 'mind' of the public administration is being focused on providing the environment and framework to restructure the design of Accra. Inward investment is actively encouraged if the project being invested has a public benefit. For example, The Accra Mall is private venture but all assistance was given by the government to ensure it happened. I hear more shopping precincts are being planned. The planners are now creating what they call themed areas, such as the Airport City area or Gold Coast City area.

Ghanaians need to stop the love affair with bungalows and build upwards! This will help put a stop to the urban sprawl.

I agree with you to some extent. I would not necessarily like to see Ghana/accra turned into a ‘tower block’ city. I believe that a mixture of low rise and high rise will be better. I think areas like Ridge, Cantoments, East Legon should remain as they are and just improved upon. However where I agree with you is that places like Mima, James town, La (the so-called slums) have to be knocked down, block by block and replaced with a grid road network ‘interlaced’ with tasteful high rise living and office spaces.

The resources from our new oil discovery should be used to do such projects. Otherwise I will be seriously pissed off!

[apollojoe]

Kasapa, It would really be nice if you could post those documents on current developments in Accra. Thats exactly whats missing on the Accra thread. I plan to visit Ghana within 6 months and will pull out all the stops to get as much info docs and pix as I can on current and future developments in Accra.

[Kasapa]

Originally Posted by apollojoe

Kasapa, It would really be nice if you could post those documents on current developments in Accra.

Okay, I will create a new thread in the 'Projects and Construction' forum and start posting as and when I get some free time.

[apollojoe]

Kasapa, you seem to be pretty knowledgeable about developments in Ghana. I need your input on this issue.
It seems to me that road engineers in Ghana are not very familiar with the Freeways(limited access highways) Motorways as they are called in Ghana and their importance. Reason why is that it seems as if every time a road project is conceived, it's always a 'dual carriageway' road. My point here is engineers and authorities or may be it's just the press? always fail to draw a distinction between Freeways(Motorways) which are always dual carriageways or more and just local dual carrageway roads.The Highway leading into Accra from Kumasi could easily have been redesigned into a limited access Motorway with Bridges, on and off ramps for access. This could have continued until it merged with the local streets close to downtown Accra at some point by the "Kwame nkrumah Bridge" (That circle really needs to be replaced with a bridge with appropriate on and off ramps). A true interchange is one that separates 2 freeways. The so called Tetteh Quarshie interchange though impressive is really a waste of land and resources in my opinion because the clover leaf concept that was used was not appropriate since The legon road which crosses the motorway, though with a high volume of traffic is only a local road with signalized intersections and not a freeway(motorway) Correct me if I'm wrong, can you believe that after all the on and off ramps, after all the looping around, you still have to contend with traffic lights right within the 'interchange'? An interchange is supposed to keep traffic flowing not have you negotiate the clover leaves only to stop at a traffic signal. The bridge itself is a wonderful idea but if they were going to construct on and off ramps with lights at the seperation then those ramps should not have been clover leaves.
Can you get detailed drawings of the 'George Bush' Motorway? I really hope it's a true Motor way all the through without traffic lights. Just bridges with on and off ramps!

[popa1980]

Good post Kasapa.

I am very familiar with Fry and Trevallions plan for Accra, it would have been a very different city, perhaps Nkrumah wanted to erase traces of colonialism. I still think in terms of beauty, Accra lags behind other African cities, in poorer countries. I would put an end to this buying individual plots in the middle of no where and building a house, ALL houses should be in a properly created area with adequate sewage, schools roads etc.

I dont want Accra to spread to my Akwapim!

It remains to be seen what will be done with the oil money-

250,000 barrels a day- in todays prices- about $35 million a day, so approximately $10 billion a year. Out of this- maybe the government will take $2 or 3 billion. I think Ghana only exports about 4 or 5 billion dollars now so that would be a MASSIVE increase in government income. Number one- Ghana can tell the IMF to stick their money up their backsides, and can restrict imported goods which have ruined local industry. The main priorities should be- rural road network, agriculture and infrastructure. Im not a huge believer in spending money on social projects because without a solid economy- it is wasted moned- the West have GOOD healthcare system and EDUCATION because they became wealthy, NOT the othee way round!

[DanteXavier]