Krobo residents angry over abandoned road

Residents of Krobo in the Eastern region are boiling with anger over the slow pace and seemingly neglect of work on the Somanya-Odumase Kpong Highway, Today can report.

According to them, the construction works which started 2013 on that stretch of road was nowhere near completion.

They are also angry over government's latest decision to re-award the 2.9 km Hohoe town roads to the same construction firm, (First Sky Limited), working on their roads when it has not yet completed them.

And as a result of that they said the construction company has suspended work on the Somanya-Odumase Kpong Highway and instead working on the Hohoe roads.

But the angry residents who spoke with Today in an interview lamented the situation, noting that the state of the road currently required an immediate government attention as the roads have become inaccessible.

Meanwhile they have described as “untrue” the statement made by President John Dramani Mahama his recent State of the Nation Address on the floor of Parliament that work was progressing steadily on the said road network.

According to them, it came as a shock to them when they learnt that the construction work on their road has been abandoned.

They consequently asked the government to either bring back the company to continue the work or re-award the contract to a new company so as to prevent any future protest.

It will be recalled that President Dramani Mahama during his last State of the Nation Address said that work on the Hohoe roads was steadily progressing.

However, an Accra-based radio station, Citi FM, after making their checks on the said road disputed the president’s claim.

But the Minister of Road and Transport, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, who earlier had challenged the Citi FM’s report, visited the area, and subsequently affirmed that the road had been abandoned by the contractor.

A resident, who gave his name as Godwin Onipayerder, said, ''we as residents in the area are not happy with the delay of work on the road. The contractors are seen on the roads for two weeks and they disappear for several months and they resurface again to work for about a week or two. We deserve better than this intermittent, "tro-tro" and bit-by-bit style of road construction. The dust on the roads is giving us sicknesses and the accidents are just too many. We expect government to provide all the logistics and materials for this road to be constructed once and for all".

According to him, they cannot wait any longer, “this road construction has kept too long, now the contractor is even working somewhere else."

Meanwhile, Chairman of Kloma Hangmen, a Krobo Advocacy and Heritage Association, Isaac Tamatey Out, has questioned the rationale behind the abandonment of the road.

"This recent suspension of work is unfortunate and worrying. Who re-awarded the contract to First Sky in the first place, and do they think we will be happy with this suspension of work? Is First Sky Ltd., the only construction company in the country?

…Are the authorities happy with the inconveniences we go through every day from the unbearable dust on our roads, and the numerous accidents? It must be made clear that we are not against the road construction in Hohoe because they also deserve development, but we are against the suspension of work on our roads,” he averred.

He added: “We are giving government up to the end of this month to bring back the contractors onto the roads or re-award it to a new contractor or we will advise ourselves accordingly.”