Residents, drivers and passengers plying the 22km Dawa Korlewa-Anyaboni Quarters-Asesewa road in the Eastern Region have bemoaned the bad nature of their roads and appealed to government to complete rehabilitation works begun on the road three years ago.
The road network, which links major farms in the area to the market centers in Asesewa and Akateng is in a horrible shape with farmers finding it difficult to transport their produce to these centers.
Contract for the repair of the road was awarded to Banappi Company Limited in 2018 but not much progress has been made due to lack of funds and a stand-off between the contractor and landlords at Dawa Korlewa over quotations for laterite required for the construction of the road.
Though gutters and culverts have been laid on the road, work has since stalled, leaving various portions of the road in terrible shape.
This has become a big bother to the road users who are calling on government intervene immediately in order to fix the road.
Some regular users of the road who spoke with GhanaWeb’s Michael Oberteye in an interview said that drivers especially, commercial ones often try to dodge the numerous potholes on the road, putting the lives of pedestrians and passengers in danger.
They also complained about the rough, uneven, muddy and slippery nature of the roads whenever it rained, which they stated made it difficult for them to move freely to their destinations.
Tetteh John, a driver who has used the road for the past fifteen years said using the road, especially during the rainy season is a nightmare.
“Our problem is that the road has deteriorated with the rains. Sometimes, we’re unable to use this road when it rains. They’re fixing the gutters but they aren’t filling it so that we can use it,” he said.
According to him, several appeals to authorities to fix the problem have proved futile.
“All they tell us when we confront them is that they are on it but it’s been a long time since it came to a standstill”
Another driver, Ofoe Addo who has used the road for the past seven years also complained about the effects the bad nature of the road is having on their vehicles.
He bemoaned: “Our road has broken down and our vehicles keep breaking down and we keep complaining to the Assemblyman, the DCE and the authorities to come repair the road for us so we can also have our daily bread”
According to him, they end spending all their income on repairs of their vehicles.
Manye Juliana, a passenger, also said, “I have been using this road for the past eight years. They have dug several parts of the road and drivers and okada riders are all suffering so we really suffer when going to the market.”
“Due to this, we pay high lorry fares so we are appealing to the authorities to come to our aid but the situation is the same.”
Another passenger, Stella Tetteh said market women found it difficult transporting their crops to the commercial centers due to the nature of the road and chastised politicians for taking voters for granted.
“During the rainy seasons, we’re unable to send most of our goods to the markets because the vehicles refuse to come so the authorities must try and assist us because the lorry fares are being hiked because of this.”
“During elections, they [politicians] come and convince us to join long queues and vote for them but after getting what they want, they refuse to honour their promises.”
They are thus appealing to the government to repair the roads for them.
