Ashongman roads: We’re taking our own initiative to fix the roads – Residents cry over deplorable roads

Residents of Ashongman Estates who grapple with travelling on bad roads on a daily basis are obviously tired of the poor condition of their roads as they have decided to fix the roads by themselves.

This follows several efforts by residents to draw the attention of the authorities to the poor road network in the community.

Spanning from the St. Mark Catholic Church at Ashongman Estates, the road network that stretches through to Ashongman City, Pure Water, Old Ashongman, Abladze, all the way to Abokobi is in a deplorable state.

The road, without asphalt, does not only give off dust in the dry season but becomes muddy and deplorable when it rains.

Commercial drivers, including online taxi drivers, avoid plying the route making the lives of residents difficult.

While trotro (public bus) and taxi drivers will not ply the roads in the area after a certain time.

David Teteji, a resident of the community who spoke to Kwame Dwomoh-Agyemang on the Class Morning Show, noted that despite several calls to the local government, “no attention has been given to it, air quality is very poor, so when it’s dry season you cannot breathe, our rooms are very dusty your wardrobes are so dusty, and when it rains too, you cannot go.”

According to residents, every effort to draw the attention of the authorities, the Ga East Assembly, to the condition of the road has not yielded results.

Teteji revealed intentions by the residents to fix their own roads since all efforts to have the authorities fix the roads have fallen on deaf ears.

“We have spoken about it on several occasions, so many times. As we speak, there’s an initiative that some of the residents in the community have taken that we should fix the roads ourselves. So, therefore, we’re calling on residents to come together to see what we can do. I believe our efforts cannot yield much. We cannot do much, so we’re still waiting to see what we can be able to do ourselves,” he said.

He revealed that one resident association in the community had threatened the Ga East Municipal Assembly, after fixing a portion of the roads, where their houses are situated, that they “would not be able pay property rate because they used the money to fix their road and that is where we are now”.

He added: “We decided to take the initiative because we called on government on several occasions, the local government to fix the roads and nothing is happening you go to the assembly nothing is happening, no tangible explanation, so what do we do, those who can afford to fix part of the road we do.”

Mr Teteji also revealed that he personally spends not less than GHS3000 fixing the road around his house to make it motorable.

“I’ve had to spend not less than GHS3000 to fix the road so I can be able to go home,” he said.