Buokrom-Airport road in bad condition

Unless the Urban Roads Department works swiftly move to fix the Airport Roundabout-Buokrom road in Kumasi, part of which caved in from flooding, about 20 communities in the Manhyia constituency and beyond may soon be cut off from the metropolis when the rains set in.

Last week, a portion of the road linking the airport roundabout and some communities like Sepe, Buokrom, Duasi, Kenyasi, Antoa, among others was washed away by rain, which resulted in flooding.

The communities, which are likely to be affected in case of further flooding, would have to find alternative routes to enter Kumasi.

While it is waiting to be fixed, the affected portion of the road, the near former Calvary Charismatic Centre (CCC), remains a death trap for human and vehicular traffic.

Motorists are already complaining that besides the long hours wasted in traffic as the road has been virtually turned into a single lane, the damage caused to the road could be a source of fatal accidents, especially in the night.

They are attributing the deplorable situation of that stretch of the road to over-utilisation by heavy duty vehicles causing potholes, and the activities of other utility services such as telecom companies, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and the Ghana Water Company, which dig trenches across the roads for the laying of lines and cables, or during the repair of faults, only to refuse to fill the trenches, which are left unattended to until the unexpected happens.

The motorists also complained that the construction of the road was done in haste since the contactors did not actually address the problem of soil texture at the place as the area used to be water logged, but the contractor and consultants did not consider that.

This has resulted in the flooding of the main street anytime it rains, leading to the creation of gaping potholes in the middle of the road, which in turn compels vehicles to slow down, creating artificial vehicular traffic.

The residents and motorists, particularly commercial drivers, have, therefore, appealed to the Ashanti Regional Minister, the Roads and Highway Minister, Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) and the Department of Urban Roads, to intervene and fix the road before it is worsened by the rains.