The Ghana Highway Authority is to have oversight responsibility of the newly commissioned N1 highway from February 15. This was disclosed by the Chief Executive of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) Martin Eson-Benjamin when he took his turn at the Meet the Press series in Accra. Giving an account of the status of work done by MiDA since it received the $547 million compact from the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the USA in 2006, Mr. Eson-Benjamin noted that one of the key projects, the construction of the 14.1 km highway from the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange to the Mallam Junction has been completed and would be handed over to the Ghana Highway Authority by Wednesday February 15 2012. The N1 highway which was opened to traffic last week has been upgraded to a three- lane express highway with two interchanges at Dimples and Mallam Junction. The highway also has six footbridges, thirteen bus bays, twenty- three minor junctions, bicycle lanes and two transport terminals at Kokroko near Mallam and Abeka Lapaz. The highway, an ECOWAS highway, was expanded to reduce traffic congestion and cut down on delays in moving from the Western parts of the country to the Kotoka International airport and the Tema Port. Mr. Eson-Benjamin further noted that a total of $208 million has been pumped into the agricultural sector on projects such as farming and enterprise training in commercial agriculture in 30 districts across the country, rehabilitation and construction of 4 irrigation schemes at Kpong, Botanga and Golinga, land tenure facilitation, post harvest infrastructure and value chain services as well as other agricultural credit activities. The transport sector has also witnessed the injection of $ 218 million with $173 million going into construction works on the N1 highway alone. Development of trunk roads such as the construction of a 75.1km road from Agogo to Dome with a new bridge over the River Afram at Afrisere and the rehabilitation of a Ferry for use on the Volta River and Afram Basin were also listed as projects worked on by MiDA. $77 million of the total budget has also gone into rural service development to strengthen rural institutions which provide complementary services to communities. The MiDA boss indicated that “even though the team faced some challenges in implementing the time- bound program, the program has been kept whole and integrated with the total amount of US$ 547 million spent”. “We have certainly gained the respect and trust of the donor, the United States of America, represented by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as Ghana has been re-selected and now fully engaged in the process towards a new compact that will power and accelerate the development of our country’s economy” Mr. Eson-Benjamin added. The Resident Country Director of the MCC, Katerina Ntep, added that Ghana’s proposal for the new compact is being analyzed and will be developed within the next 12 months. The Millennium Development Account Compact program which began in 2006 ends on 16 February 2012 and there is no extension.