Delay in completing Bolga-Bawku-Pulmakom road worrying – Upper East residents complain

Delay in completing the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road has become a major source of worry for residents of the Upper East Region.

Even though it was proposed in the mid-year budget review read in Parliament by the Minister of Finance that works on the road would be continued, some commuters and residents of the region are still doubtful about the statement.

The most deplorable portions of the road are around Zuarungu in the new Bolgatanga East District.

The residents’ anxiety is because the road is an international road linking the regional capital, Bolgatanga, to Bawku, a commercial town, and to the neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso and Togo.

Before work was stalled, there were two contractors working on the 116-kilometre road; Mawums Construction Limited, a Ghanaian company, and Queiros Galvao, a Brazilian company.

Sod-cutting for the road construction was done in late 2016 and the project was expected to be completed within two and a half years.

However, the contractors withdrew equipment from the project site due to non-payment of arrears.

Ambush

Commuters and drivers who ply the road have appealed to the government to expedite action to have the road completed soon.

Commercial drivers in particular complained of the constant breakdown of their vehicles on the road.

Pressure group

Meanwhile, Mr Tinga Alamisi Muntala Adama, the Chairman of a Bolgatanga-based pressure group, Narrative Changers, has vowed to organise a demonstration in the next one week if the government does not respond positively to the people’s request, adding that: “We are also currently running a social media campaign to draw attention to the road."

He stressed further that in spite of the mention that the road received in the mid-year budget review, if the government failed to get things going and soon too, “we shall hit the streets to demand that it is fixed”.

Assurance

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bolgatanga East, Rev. Emmanuel Abugre Abole, has, however, assured residents that the government has not abandoned the road.