A section of residents in the Berekum West District continues to express concerns about the poor nature of roads in their community.
On Friday, September 25, 2020, the Vice president of Ghana, His Excellency Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, cut sod for the construction of a ten (10) kilometre Berekum town roads, which was to be funded under phase one of government's Synohydro infrastructure for bauxite agreement program.
Under the scope of this project, the Berekum town roads, such as Berlin - Sofokyere, Kyirebaa and Pataasie roads in the Berekum Municipality, as well as Ayimom in the Berekum West District, were the beneficiaries of these road upgrading exercises.
Residents of Ayimom, in the Berekum West District Assembly of the Bono Region, who are not happy about the stagnation of the road project, expressed their frustrations in an interview with Ghanaweb on Monday, March 15, 2021, during a site visit to the road.
Speaking to Ghanaweb on behalf of the chiefs of Ayimom, the Akyeamehene, Nana Kwabena Yeboah, said a contractor came to the site immediately after the Vice President cut the sod for their road to be upgraded.
"We were excited to see the contractor working on our deteriorated road prior to the 2020 General Election; the entire community, I must say, was very happy when construction works began."
According to the Akyeamehene, "the contractor seems to have abandoned the site after the elections because he has not been at work ever since and there is no sign of him returning to site".
Mr Evans Takyi, a unit committee member of the area, said the committee, together with the assembly member, has been to the Berekum West District Assembly on several occasions to find out the reason the contractor has abandoned the road project but have not been given any details from the assembly.
"We have reported this problem to the assembly of the contractor abandoning the road but what we were told was to wait a while for the Roads Minister to settle down." To him, the assembly must act quickly to either get the contractor back to site or award it to a different contractor to get the road done as early as possible.
In a brief interaction with taxi drivers who ply on this road, Mr Adjei Sarpong disclosed that tricycle riders have taken over their work on most of the roads due to the poor nature of the roads in the community. ''I always go to magazine to service my car anytime I used this stretch and I cannot continue to pay for the high cost of spare parts''.
Traders who engage on the roadside, as well as residents along the road, have appealed to the appropriate authorities to get the road fixed to prevent them from contracting the dust-related disease. Mrs Agnes Twumwaa, a tenant of one of the affected houses said, "I have to send my daughter, who is an asthmatic patient, to live with my sister in Sunyani."
The contractor working on the Berekum township roads is said to have abandoned his work