In the second year of roads, road users and residents living in several communities along the 24.1km Marine-Adjena-Adumasa-Gyakiti-Enyasi road in the Eastern Region are worried over what they say is the deplorable road network which is negatively affecting every area of their lives and businesses.
In an area believed to be one of the food baskets for the district, the residents say transporting foodstuffs from the farms to the market centers has been herculean.
Parts of the un-motorable roads are flooded during the rains with non-existent drainage systems leaving residents stranded during every rainy season.
The community members, through their various resident associations, have tried to fix the problem through communal labour, nothing much has been achieved.
The residents say several attempts to draw the attention of the Asuogyaman District Assembly, government, and the relevant stakeholders to the deplorable nature of their roads have not yielded any positive result.
They said the state of their roads has severely affected their businesses and they have no choice but to endure the enormous dust that emanates during transit along the route.
They also highlighted the danger of the road during medical emergencies.
GhanaWeb's Eastern Regional Correspondent was recently aboard a commercial minivan from Akosombo to Gyakiti a couple of days ago.
The stretch from Marine to Enyasi is not only bumpy but horrendous and near un-motorable.
This correspondent had a hectic time maintaining his balance in the vehicle due to the bumpy nature of the road to film the video interviews of worried passengers who were heading to various destinations such as Adjena, Sappor, Adumasa, and Gyakiti.
A passenger in the vehicle and a regular passenger along the route who gave her name as Beatrice “The road is not good at all because we’re finding it very difficult using this road,” she said.
The situation, she added sometimes results in difficulties assessing vehicles to Akosombo from the various communiites as many drivers were not ready to ply the road.
She called on authorities to come fix the road. She said, ”They have to help us. The MPs use this road to Gyakiti and they know that the road is not good so we beg them to fix the road so that we’ll be free.”
Another passenger who is a trader and regular user of the road from Akosombo to Gyakiti, Akosua Yirenkyiwaa, told GhanaWeb that drivers took advantage of the situation to charge exorbitant fares.
“The road is bad so we’re not charged the right fares. The vehicles that ply the road always suffer damages so we are pleading with the government to come repair the road for us so we can also have our freedom.”
The situation, she said delays their travel time as they spend longer time on the road than required.
“The nature of the road also delays us because we should be at our destination by this time but we’re still stuck due to the bad nature of the road so we’re pleading with government to come fix our road for us because we’re suffering.”
Assemblyman for Kpese, Adjena-West Electoral Area, honorable Maxwell Awintor empathised with drivers whom he said were compelled to buy spare parts frequently due to the “rough” nature of the road.
The situation, he added has resulted in drivers increasing their fares to meet their expenses.
“Drivers plying the roads sometimes face difficulties in buying spare parts, where it should take them a year before they change it, within two, three months, they have to change it and due to that, the fare that is not meant to be charged, are charged so we the passengers are suffering and we want government to come to our aid.”
According to him, farmers sometimes suffer losses as their foodstuffs get rotten in their farms as a result of the poor nature of the road.
“Here, our main activity is farming so sometimes, our foods get rotten because of the nature of the road when it rains,” he said, ending with an appeal to the government to solve the problem.
Honourable Awintor added that the situation affected the conveyance of the sick to the health centers recalled how a sick man lost his life owing to the delay in conveying him from the Adjena clinic to the Akosombo hospital.
At Gyakiti, a resident who gave her name as Moda said, “The road is a bother to us, especially where the caterpillar has broken down. When returning from market, the manner in which the vehicle balances scares us.”
Assembly member for Gyakiti, Honourable Seth Ofori said jobs, health delivery, education, and businesses were being affected by the situation.
He lamented that newly trained teachers decline postings to the area due to the horrible road leading to the community.
“The problems, jobs, business, health wise, even education wise, we’re facing challenges. When newly trained teachers are posted here, they reject or don’t accept the posting because of the bad nature of the road.
“Health wise, even if in the night, because we don’t have any health facility in Gyakiti, in the night when a woman is in labour, you see this bad road, we have to travel to Akosombo or maybe Adjena,” he lamented.
The situation, he added has also barred companies from establishing businesses in the community.
District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, Honourable Samuel Kwame Agyekum when contacted by GhanaWeb explained that government had already awarded contracts for works on three main roads currently being constructed in the district.
These include the Marine-Enyasi road, the Apegusu Junction-Mpakadan road and Osubin-Anum-Boso road.
He however blamed the failure to execute the Marine-Enyasi project at the doorstep of the contractor.
“Works on the Gyakiti [Marine-Enyasi] road have already been awarded on contract. My problem however is that the contractor isn’t delivering. Some two large bridges need to be constructed but as I speak with you, he’s now mobilised materials to the site for the commencement of works,” explained Mr. Agyekum.
The Assembly chief further assured that there were plans to meet the Minister of Roads and Highways on the situation.
