Motorists to endure more hardship

Motorists who  ply the Odorkor-Kasoa highway in Accra will continue to deal with the discomfort and frustration of driving in very slow-moving traffic whenever it rains heavily.

This is because there are no funds readily available to the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) to enable it to work out a solution to check the perennial blocking of the road by floodwater, gravel and silt that flows from the hills close to the toll booth at the Tuba Junction.

This was disclosed by Mr Norbett Quarmor, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA), who says for now “motorists who use the road will have to be aware of the problem on that portion and drive carefully and slowly.”

He said the problem was not due to construction defect on the part of the GHA or inadequacy of the side drain to carry away storm water. The problem, he said, could be attributed to a number of factors including heavy siltation of the side drain by runoff water from the adjoining hills whenever it rained.

In addition, he said the difficulty had also been brought on by the removal of the vegetative cover on the hillsides through sand and stone winning which had exposed gravels that were easily washed onto the road.

Furthermore, he noted that because access roads made into the hillsides by the sand winners were not tarred, it required little effort for the gravel to get unto the road.

According to Mr Quarmor, part of the problem was also because a drain that was constructed on top of the hills many years ago by the Agricultural and Engineering Services Corporation (AESC) for runoff water had become heavily silted and as such was not able to collect runoff water and perform as expected.

But Mr Gilbert Ansah, a resident of  one of the nearby communities who regularly uses the road, says that the GHA is not trying hard enough.

“The problem is as old as the road construction itself and it is a wonder how for all these years the GHA has allowed the inconvenience to persist,” he added.

Despite accepting that the problem has persisted for sometime now, the GHA Public Affairs Director attributed the situation to the fast rate at which the drains got silted whenever it rained heavily.

At the moment, he said, the burden of finding a lasting solution to the problem lay with the government as it was the only entity that was capable of tackling the activity which was likely to be expensive.

For now, he said one solution was to continuously desilt the drain beside the road which was an activity that the authority undertook periodically.

“To ask any contractor to take up the task at this time will be difficult as contractors are reluctant to work on credit because of the fear of delays in payment of fees that are owed them.

“Another way of going about the problem will be to desilt the drain constructed by the AESC uphill. For the long term, however, the GHA, AESC and the district assemblies need to brainstorm and come up with a permanent solution,” he said.

He was convinced, nonetheless, that the timely release of funds by the Road Fund Secretariat will help improve the current situation while lasting solutions were being sought.

When contacted, the Director of the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat, Mr Franklin A. Agbanator, said the Road Fund Secretariat was currently in a critical situation and hard up for cash.

Mr Agbanator however observed that should the GHA, which was an agency it works closely with, put forward their financial requirements early enough, the secretariat will consider assisting them with some funds for periodic maintenance activities.


Story by Jojo Sam/The Mirror

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