Glo Mobile Ghana has been accused of showing bad faith and disrespecting to an agreement between the five GSM operators and the Department of Urban Roads to do co-trenching on the ongoing 15km Awoshie-Pokuase road project.

 

Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah noted during an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen that Glo opted out of the agreement midway and that has affected the progress of work on that project and also left the other telcos handicapped after part of the pipes they provided had been laid for Glo based on the agreement.

 

The Urban Roads Department is also said to be seeking a hard line action against Glo for blatantly flouting a working agreement between stakeholders. Meanwhile, Glo has not bothered to respond to queries from ADOMBUSINESS about the matter for months now.

 

The facts of the matter is that more than a year ago, all GSM operators (MTN, Airtel, Vodafone, Tigo and Glo) agreed with the National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT) to provide pipes (ducts) to be laid along the ongoing 15km Awoshie-Pokuase road while the road is under construction so that no telco, or utility service provider, for that matter, would later go and dig the road and lay infrastructure after it has been completed.

 

NECT is the body of engineers from stakeholder organizations in the infrastructure sector (including telcos), set up to ensure harmony in infrastructural development.

 

The Awoshie – Pokuase road was selected as a pilot for the agreement to harmonize the installation of infrastructure.

 

Urban Roads decided to lay the ducts horizontal to the road to save cost for the telcos, so each of the five telcos, including Glo, agreed to provide 3km of pipe at the cost US$100,000 each to make the 15km to be cut into five pieces each and laid side by side in five ducts in one trench.

 

Four of the telcos, MTN, Vodafone, Tigo and Airtel provided their 3km each making 12km. Now the 12km have been laid and it is left with Glo to provide its pipes to complete the remaining 3km of the ducts but Glo has decided at the last minute to opt out of the agreement, and leave everybody hanging.

 

The other blow to the other telcos is that because there was a co-trenching agreement, part of their pipes had already been laid and sealed with concrete in a fifth deck for Glo. This means the fifth duct is gone waste, while the other telcos are also handicapped because even thought they have each provided their portion of pipes, they still have 3km more to cover.

 

Glo has since not offered any reasonable explanation for opting out, and all the industry players and the Department of Urban Roads are angry over the matter.

 

Meanwhile, a private company called Telecoms Channel has opted to buy the ducts laid for Glo on that road and also provided the remaining 3km of pipe to complete the 15km.  

 

Telecoms Channel is said to have invested in that project with the agreement that it could rent it out to any service provider needing that duct in the future. The company is also providing extra pipes for future road projects across the country so they could rent them out.

 

Meanwhile, the Awoshi-Pokuase road, which is being sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the French Development Agency (AFD) at the total cost of 92.5million euros, is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. AfDB is providing 62.5million euros while AFD provides the remaining 30million euros.

 

The project has two main components: the Awoshie-Pokuase road and the community development infrastructure for the population living in the vicinity of the road.

 

The road works include the rehabilitation and capacity increase of the 15km long Awoshie to Pokuase road axis. This involves the provision of 2x2 and 2x3 lanes, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) reservations (which will serve as dedicated lanes for buses without interference with the traffic of cars) and road intersections.

 

Under the urban community development component of the project, AFD will finance basic infrastructures in adjacent neighbourhoods, particularly the rehabilitation or replacement of 33,000 meters of water pipelines and a number of secondary roads. 

 

AfDB will, on its part, finance the construction of 14 schools and toilets within the corridor, the Ofankor Hospital, an accident center at Amasaman, 10 boreholes, Anyaa Market and an adjoining lorry park.

 

Procurement of the community development infrastructure component is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.