Antoa-Abirem residents complain of bad road network

Residents of communities along the Antoa-Abirem road, as well as commuters, are protesting against the bad and rough nature of the road. The Spokesman, Mr. Samuel Boakye Danquah, and the Interim Chairman, Kwaku Budu Mensah, said countless efforts had been made over the past years to get it fixed, but to no avail, despite numerous promises by politicians. According to them, the present state of the road is worse than when no rehabilitation work had commenced, attributing it to shoddy work by the contractor. They preferred the previous state of tarred surface with the numerous potholes, which they saw as far better and convenient than the dusty, bumpy road with ripples, which had devastating effects on vehicles. The residents indicated that besides the health implications, the current state of the road had contributed to two major problems, namely, higher lorry fares, and the reluctance of drivers to ply the road. “Even the Metro Mass Transport buses suffer the same fate, and are not ready to ply the road,” it was indicated. They drew the attention of politicians who promise heaven during campaigns and renege on the promises after wining power to beware of the consequences, as they would not be fooled all the time. The residents, through their, spokesmen, appealed to the government to come to their aid as soon as practicable, stressing that they would be compelled to implement an intended action plan if the government failed to respond to the demand for a positive development soon. When The Chronicle contacted the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kwabre East, Mr. Adams Iddisah, over the issue on phone, he confirmed the messy situation in which the roads were, and explained that the road had already been awarded on contract by the Department of Feeder Roads. He said unfortunately, the contract had to be terminated because of delays by the previous contractor, following which a new contractor had been assigned the job. He was convinced work would soon begin. Iddisah appealed to the affected constituents to exercise restraint, while the government takes steps to fix the road among other developmental projects for the area.   Attempts by the paper to reach the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Kofi Frimpong, on phone for his side failed, as he would not answer the calls.

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