From rainforest to port

Justmoh Construction relies on SDLG to build access roads to cocoa plantations in Ghana

Against this backdrop Justmoh Construction is currently building a 26km long section of a 52km two-lane road in the Western Region of Ghana that, once completed, will connect the town of Atieku and the surrounding cocoa plantations with Daboase Junction. Implemented by the Ghana Highway Authority and funded by the Ghana Cocoa Board, the significance of this road cannot be overestimated as Doboase Junction represents access to the main asphalt highway and therefore the city of Takoradi and its all important port.

Cocoa is the chief agricultural export of Ghana and the country's main cash crop. Furthermore, behind Ivory Coast, Ghana is the second largest cocoa exporter in the world and getting the harvest to port in a timely fashion before it spoils is crucial.

“This is our second project in the area,” says CEO of Justmoh Group and Managing Director of Justmoh Construction, Justice Amoh. “We recently completed a 14km long section of feeder road connecting the main highway with the cocoa plantation at Daboase and finished three months ahead of schedule.

“The initial project involved re-profiling what was a track through the rainforest, laying the sub-base and base and then sealing the surface with a bitumen-aggregate mix. We did much of the work with our SDLG G9190 graders, RS8140 single drum compactors and LG956L wheeled loaders.

Justmoh Construction now boasts some 20 SDLG machines in its fleet, all of which are either working on the second road project or at the company’s 85-acre granite quarry near Takoradi. “My first SDLG machine was a 17.25 tonne LG956L wheeled loader that I bought about 4-years ago,” says Justice. “This machine now has well over 6,000 hours on the clock yet it continues to work each day at the quarry in a stockpile management and loading role.

Deep in the rainforest, where Justmoh Construction is re-profiling and re-habilitating what was ostensibly a single lane dirt track to become a two lane road, the SDLG LG956L wheeled loaders featuring four-wheel drive, up to 890Nm of torque and average cycle times of just 11.3 seconds are an integral part of the massive earthmoving exercise.

With a standard bucket capacity of 2.7m3 and a 3.18m maximum dump height the wheeled loaders are ideally suited to loading the trucks being used to transfer material. Justice says: “We started in June 2015 and are due to complete in December 2016. In that time the project will require some 250,000m3 of fill as well as over 120,000m3 of material for the base and sub-base, much of which will come from our Takoradi quarry. The SDLG LG956L wheeled loaders will be responsible for the handling of the vast majority of this material.”

Simultaneously, surface preparation along the 26km stretch is being spearheaded by three SDLG G9190 graders. Weighing in at 15.8 tonnes and featuring durable 3.96m long and 22mm thick blades the SDLG G9190 graders provide the operators with up to 710Nm of torque transmitted through fixed shaft power shift with six forward gears and three reverse. A turning circle of just 7.6 m for machines that are over 10m in length provides excellent manoeuvrability, which is ideal considering the confines of the project.

Compaction is being handled by four SDLG RS8140 14-tonne single drum rollers that - thanks to their 92Kw Weichai Deutz engines - are capable of climbing 300 inclines, albeit without vibration, which is a real attribute considering some of the slopes on the project. With a drum width of 2.13m, nominal amplitude of 1.8/1.0 mm depending on application and material depth and a variable vibration frequency of 28 to 35 Hz, the RS8140 compactors boast some 7 tonnes of static weight on the drum.

“We’re currently working 10 hours/day and 6 days per week to advance the project as much as possible before the rainy season,” says Justice. “Even at the moment we get rain fairly often but come April earthworks will become nigh on impossible. We are therefore pressing on to get the base completed before the main rains arrive. To this end, uptime across the fleet is critical.”

Once completed, the new road will not only facilitate more efficient transport of cocoa to port but will also enhance the lives of those in the community. “The population of this area is about 50,000 people,” says Justice. “The new road will change their lives, providing more employment opportunities and a better environment.”

Over and above this, there is a requirement in the contract that stipulates Justmoh Construction should provide social amenities for the community once the project’s completed.

“I established Justmoh Construction in 1991 and throughout the past 25-years I have been driven by hard work, dedication, honesty, loyalty and my deeply held Christian faith,” says Justice. “As such, I am delighted about the social requirements of the contract as they reflect my own beliefs.” Once the project is completed Justice says it will be an honour and a pleasure for him and his team to hand over the bore holes they’ve sunk and the site offices and complex they’ve built to the local community.  “Maybe the site offices will convert well in to a school,” says Justice. “I think that would be a wonderful, positive outcome.”