The cost of congestion in Accra is a major challenge, with hours of productivity lost in traffic.
Kojo spends an average of 6 hours a day commuting to and from work. That’s 30 hours a week, and 120 hours a month stuck in traffic. He says he’s struggling to cope.
“It worries a lot because of the time you are going to get to work and also close from work to home.” He’s not alone, several other workers have to cope in hours of traffic. “As you know the roads are not good and then the traffic situation; so you just have to cope. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s so disturbing but what can you do” one driver said.
Transport Expert Godfred Akyea Darkwa says the situation is indeed dire.
“People have to leave their homes as early as five o’clock, four o’clock before they can get to the center of the city. Why? And when it happens like that, when they close, they have to run home, they will not wait for the closing time. So, if you’re closing at five o’clock, they will leave their workplace at three o’clock at the expense of productive hours” he said.
Despite the unavailability of sufficient data, it is evident that Accra’s traffic congestion costs the economy in lost productivity. Interestingly, the cost of congestion is not just financial; it’s also human.
People are spending more time commuting and less time with their families and friends. For Godfred Akyea Darkwa, the “Impact on traffic congestion for commuters to their offices is so huge that it affects them economically, politically and then socially. When we bring all of them combined, it is costing a whopping sum of money that is difficult even to quantify. You see, it is so huge that if you are asking me about a solution, government collects taxes and manages the economy. And if anything affects productivity, it means that it’s going to affect the GDP.”
In response to the traffic congestion, many Accra residents have turned to alternative modes of transportation, such as motorcycles also known as Okadas.
While this may seem like a convenient solution, it comes with its own set of challenges; higher fares and road accident fears. So, what’s the solution?
Transport expert Dr Godfred Alvea Darkwa says investing in efficient public transportation systems, infrastructure development, and alternative modes of transportation can help reduce congestion.
“They can dualize the roads from the very place where the traffic starts congesting, straight down to the center of the town. Another one is that government try to create alternative routes.”
“You see, when you go to Accra, for example, there are so many routes within Accra that are not motorized because the government has not constructed them. So, everybody has to use the main route. But if this link were to be constructed, people can use that, and we cannot see the congestion so devastating like that.”
“When you go to places like the US and other places, people live within the catchment area where they work. If you are working in a flag Staff area, why do you go and live in Aburi? You have to live within the catchment area. So, they have buildings that can accommodate people who are working within that vicinity. And what happens is that it reduces commuting,” he explained.
Clearly, the cost of congestion in Accra is a complex issue, but it’s not insurmountable. Stakeholders by working together, can find solutions to reduce traffic congestion and improve productivity.
