Fix malfunctioning street lights on Awoshie-Pokuase highway - Ablekuma residents

Residents of Ablekuma in the Ga-Central Municipal Assembly of the Greater Accra Region have expressed worry about the malfunctioning of street lights on the Awoshie-Pokuase highway.

According to them, the situation has been lingering for several years and has resulted in vehicular knockdowns, resulting in many people getting injured and others being killed.

In an interview with the Ghanaian Times, some of the residents said although there were some street lights along the stretch, it was usually not safe to walk or drive there at night because the lights had not been connected to power.

A resident, who gave her name as Madam Gladys Asare, said, “Sometimes when we are crossing the street, we turn to check well if there are vehicles coming, but as you move to cross, we assume that the vehicle on the middle lane is probably on the outer lane, which frightens us and pedestrians are knocked down in such a situation.”

Another woman, Madam Serwaah Ampem, who sells bread on the stretch, said, “Because there are no street lights, it is very disturbing and risky when coming from town late at night. Recently, a lady was attacked by robbers who took all her belongings.”

Commuters who ply the stretch also bemoaned the poor visibility at night and the non-functioning of some traffic lights, especially the Ablekuma-Olebu stretch.

David Appiah, a taxi driver, who plies the road, said, “I have witnessed at least four accidents in the past months. We called on the assembly and the urban roads but no action has been taken till date. We plead with the government to fix the lights for us to save lives.

A motor rider, Hamid Issaka, said “most of my friends have lost their lives here due to this problem. We normally crash with the drivers on top speed since the lights are not working.”

Meanwhile, in a telephone interview with the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Ga-Central Municipal Assembly, Dr Emmanuel Lamptey, explained that the contract had been awarded to three different contractors under the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) project to handle non-functional street lights in the entire Greater Accra Region.

He said works were going on until the outbreak of the coronavirus disease halted the process.

Dr Lamptey explained that the traffic lights were managed by Urban Roads and anytime there was a problem, the assembly followed it up to ensure the problem was fixed.

He assured the residents that work would resume soon on the stretch since the project had been awarded to contractors concurrently working in the region.

“Just today, we had a letter from MiDA indicating that they were on the fixing of the street lights and also repairing damaged ones. The assemblies are to ensure that maintenance and other things are taken on board.

“So probably they haven’t got to our end. If it is not done, then it means they are working on it. What we, as an assembly, do is that we normally take care of the secondary and inner roads,” he said.