Gov’t alone cannot address deplorable roads in U/E - Minister

Mr James Tiigah, Upper East Regional Minister, has stated that the Government alone cannot address the deplorable nature of roads in the region.

The Regional Minister made the statement when some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the region, after embarking upon a route match in the Bolgatanga Municipality, presented a petition to him demanding that the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) which is the superintendent body in the region oversee to it that the bad roads in the region are rehabilitated.

He said as part of measures to help address the problem, the RCC together with the Government were working hard to open up an enclave zone and free ports in the region to woe more investors who would support in the construction and rehabilitation of roads in the region.

Mr Tiigah told the group that the RCC had on its drawing board plans to construct a ring road linking the Nabdam District to the Bongo District and to the proposed site of the Regional Airport, Sumbrungu in the region.

He gave the assurance that the Bolgatanga –Bawku road and other bad roads in the region would be worked on, stressing the RCC had captured it on its drawing board.

The CSOs which described the response of the Regional Minister as a long-term process, called on him to as matter of urgency address the problem to curtail deaths associated with the deplorable nature of the roads.

The CSOs which attributed the spate of road accidents in the area to the deplorable nature of the roads were the Bolgatanga, Nangodi, Bongo and Tongo Union(BONABOTO),the Upper East Youth Association, the Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy, Zongo Youth Association, Atlantic Youth Association and Zurangu Youth Association and the Sherigu Youth Association

The spokesperson for the group, Mr Bismark Adongo, said the road network linking all the 13 districts in the region were in a bad shape, and mentioned the Bolgatanga township roads, the Bawku – Bolgatanga road, the trans-ECOWAS road, which links Kasena- Nankana East and West, Navrongo-Sandema-Fumbisi, the uncompleted Bolgatanga-Bongo, Bolgatanga-Zuarungu road, the Bolgatanga-Sherigu road, the Estates, Soe and Bukere roads and the Bolgatanga-Zongo which need urgent repairs.

The petition said the current situation was not only leading to road accidents in the region and armed robbery, but undermined agriculture productivity and effective health delivery in the region.

“The Navrongo-Sandema-Fumbisi road, which links the region to its largest agriculture production area is in a mess” and we will continue to embark upon well coordinated activities to press home our demand and we will not stop until government fixes the problem”, the petition stressed.

The Public Relations Officer of BONABOTO in charge of the Region, Mr Stanley Abopam, noted that there was the urgent need for the RCC and the Government to ensure that the department of urban roads repaired the township roads and its environs properly to avert more crisis.

It would be recalled that the same group last week at a press conference organized in the Municipality called on government to repair the roads in the region.