President John Dramani Mahama has named the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces as the major subcontractor for the construction of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
He announced the decision on Monday, September 14, 2026, at Kwaso near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, where the military formally handed over the cleared right-of-way for the project.
The President said the regiment had earned the role through the work it has already done on the corridor, clearing 175.6 kilometres of virgin forest, farmland and river crossings in 19 weeks against a 20-week deadline.
Keeping the soldiers on site, he argued, preserves a mobilisation the state has already paid for and removes the lag that normally follows when a fresh contractor moves onto an untouched corridor.
From Clearing Crew to Construction Partner on the Accra-Kumasi Expressway
Government tasked the Ghana Armed Forces with the early works on April 22, 2026, after President Mahama used his February 27 State of the Nation Address to announce that construction of an expressway between Ghana’s two largest cities would begin under his administration.
The regiment cut the route from Ablekuma in Greater Accra to Sewua in the Ashanti Region and finished a full week ahead of schedule. That performance shaped Monday’s decision.
“Because of the state of your mobilisation on this road, it only makes sense that you must participate in the construction of the Expressway,” President Mahama told the troops assembled at the handover site.
He then confirmed the instruction he had passed to the sector minister: “So I’ve asked the Minister of Roads and Highways to incorporate the engineers regiment, the Ghana Armed Forces, as the major subcontractor to the main contractor on this Accra-Kumasi Expressway.”
The arrangement places the military under whichever firm eventually wins the main construction contract, a process now running through an international prequalification exercise that government expects to conclude before the end of the year.
48 Engineer Regiment Tasked With Accra Orbital Right-of-Way
The President did not stop at the expressway. He directed that the same regiment be moved onto the planned Greater Accra Orbital, the outer ring road designed to keep long-distance traffic out of the capital’s core.
“We’ve also asked the Minister of Roads and Highways to deploy you on the Greater Accra Orbital to establish the right-of-way and begin to clear the right-of-way for the Greater Accra Ring Road.”
President John Dramani Mahama
The Accra Orbital is one half of a pair. Work has already begun on the Ashanti Orbital, the Kumasi Outer Ring Road, where a contractor is opening a route that will allow trucks heading to the northern regions and Burkina Faso to bypass Kumasi entirely and rejoin the network on the Mampong or Techiman roads.
The Accra-Kumasi Expressway is designed to link the two orbitals, with its Ashanti terminus at Sewua feeding directly into the Kumasi ring road. For Accra, the logic is the same in reverse.
A driver coming in from Aflao with no business in the capital would turn onto the ring road and exit at an interchange for Madina, Aburi, Kumasi or the Winneba and Cape Coast corridor without ever entering the city.
Steel Bridges and a Standing Role in Infrastructure Delivery
President Mahama added a third assignment. Government has imported steel bridge components intended for streams and rivers across the country, and he has asked the Roads and Highways Minister to identify the sites and hand installation to the Armed Forces.
The President framed all three tasks as part of a deliberate shift in how the state uses its military engineering capacity, pointing to the PNDC era when soldiers built the road into Donkorkrom after civilian contractors could not open up the Afram Plains. He said critics who doubted the assignment simply did not understand the institution.
“The Ghana Armed Forces are capable and I have absolute trust in their ability to help this country in its infrastructure development,” he said, adding that road construction, buildings and agriculture would all draw on the same capacity in the years ahead.
Honours for the Engineer Corps
President Mahama announced that the engineers regiment will receive the Order of the Companion of the Volta at the national honours ceremony marking Ghana’s 70th independence anniversary.
He also commended the Chief of the Defence Staff and the military high command for the supervision that kept the clearing work on pace, and thanked the chiefs, farmers and landowners along the route who surrendered crops and property, including one traditional ruler whose farm became the ceremony ground itself.
The next milestone is procurement. With the Expression of Interest for prequalification published on September 11 and a selection window of four weeks, the government intends to award the main contract before December and return to Kwaso to cut the sod on the 198.7-kilometre, six-lane expressway before Christmas.
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