Bad roads hampering development in Bunkpurugu

Stakeholders in the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District have decried the appalling roads in some parts of the district and said the roads were very bad and slow down businesses and economic activities.

The stakeholders comprising the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Gbeduri Vegetable Farmers Cooperatives, chiefs and opinion leaders and public servants in the district stated that their economic activities usually come to a stand-still during the raining season and the situation was not different during the dry season.

The stakeholders, who were in a one-day stakeholders workshop, said if the government and district assembly do not take up construction of roads in the area particularly commercial roads as a priority, they would renege in fulfilling their task obligation to the state.

The workshop was organized by the GPRTU and the Gbeduri Vegetable Farmers Cooperatives with sponsorship from the BUSAC Fund aimed at challenging government and the assembly to improve the road networks in the Bunkprurugu/Yunyoo District to scale up economic activities.

Mr. Assani Moses Tampuri, BUSAC Fund Consultant who presented a research report on the nature of the Bunkpurugu roads, said 83% of roads in the area were rated poor.

He said vehicular breakdown is also a common phenomenon in the area leading to slow movement of goods and services, thus increasing cost of foodstuffs.

Mr. Tampuri said inadequate and unsustainable funding from the central Government and the negligible attention to the sector by the District Assembly were identified as the major factors for the deplorable road networks.

He suggested decentralization of the roads and transport planning services adding that government policy on roads constructed in the region should be divorced from political considerations to enable the region benefit from these projects.

He said roads along the border communities should be constructed to open up the area for economic activities.

Mr. Abdul Malik Abdul-Latif, Deputy District Coordinating Director, assured the stakeholders that their concerns would be addressed since the road sector was dear to the heart of the government.