B&FT Editorial: Eastern corridor roads finally witness massive face lift

President Nana Akufo-Addo addressed the chiefs and people of Nkwanta in the Oti Region last weekend, and stated that the situation where farms products goes waste as a result of bad feeder roads will soon be a thing of the past.

The president acknowledged that the produce of many farmers get rotten in the farm due to the deplorable state of the roads there. Consequently, the president promised to replicate the feeder roads cocoa construction model to prevent farm produce from going waste.

This will obviously bring feelings of joy and relief to the chiefs and people of Nkwanta, who have lived with some of the worst roads in the country which witnessed little or no attention – leaving them in a sorry state, particularly, when the rains come down.

Roads there become impassable whiles the bulk of agricultural produce from the breadbasket regions of northern Ghana have to transit through the Eastern corridor to reach Accra with great difficulty, and inflates the prices of agricultural produce because of the road’s bad state.

Successive governments in the Fourth Republic have either payed lip-service to rehabilitating the Eastern corridor or neglected it completely; hence, it is a feather-in-the cap of the Nana-led administration that work will finally commence on that stretch of roads.

The assurance has been corroborated by the Roads and Highways Minister, Amoako Atta, who stated that ongoing works on the Eastern corridor roads is not a nine-day wonder but a genuine commitment to completing the most talked-about road in the country.

The Easter corridor road is considered one of the most important roads in the country, as it connects Northern Ghana and other landlocked countries north of Ghana to Southern Ghana. For over a decade, the road has always been in the budget and plans of government – but little has been achieved toward completing it.

Amoako Atta gave assurance the work begun on the Eastern corridor will continue till it’s completed, and that is not just an electioneering gimmick. Given the economic importance of the Eastern corridor, we are greatly moved that finally, this all-important road infrastructure will receive a face-lift and become motorable so that goods carted from the Northern Ghana will reach market centres in good time and in good condition, so the labour of thousands of farmers will be adequately rewarded.