Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road condition worsens

Six months after President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod for work to begin on the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road work is yet to start and the contractors are blaming the rains for the delay.

The delay to start work on the 90-kilometre road had resulted in deterioration of the road resulting in several trucks loaded with goods broken down.

During a tour of the road by some journalists and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo on Wednesday, about five trucks loaded with goods had stuck in the mud with one accident truck lying in the bush.

Mr Aidoo said he had contacted the contractor for the project, Ranius Construction Company, a subsidiary of SONITRA at its mobilization site at Bepo, who blamed the rains for the delay.

With this explanation from the contractor, the MP suggested remedial works on some deplorable portions of the road ahead of the start of the project.

Mr. Aidoo, who was the Western Regional Minster, told journalists in a press briefing that funding for the project amounting to $70 million had long been secured from the European Union.

He said the sod cutting ceremony came as a big relief and hope for many users of the road but six months down the lane, nothing had been done for work to start.

“The road is in its worse ever condition, travelling on it is to go through a nightmare.”

The agony, ache, bodily pain and exhaustion that travelers suffer, the increase in lorry fares, the haulage trucks that keep on falling, rampant breakdown of vehicles, psychological discomfort, travelers getting stranded are becoming unbearable on the road,” Mr Aidoo said.

He said armed robbers had taken advantage of the situation to rob traders, motorists and travelers on the road at night.

Mr. Aidoo said the road was important as it helps boost the economy through the transportation of cash crops, minerals, timber and cocoa to the Takoradi port.

He said as preparation is underway for actual work to commence, the bad state of the road must not continue to be left unattended to.

Source: GNA