Omanjor roads to receive facelift

Construction work has started on the two kilometres Omanjor road in the Trobu Constituency of the Ga West District today (Monday, June 10).

Construction works are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The road, which starts from the Mensah Addo Junction is the only major road that links Omanjor to Dwenewoho, Olebu, Amamoley and Pokuase and has become almost impassable causing a great deal of inconvenience to users.

Construction of gutters on the road came to a halt and a major bridge constructed on the Dwenewoho stretch of the road was abandoned and the rains caused it to erode.

In the 2019 budget, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, indicated that the government was going to invest in roads this year and he listed the Omanjor road as part of the roads to be constructed.

Cause of delay

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, Mr Moses Anim, was at the site with the contractor to ensure that work had begun and was progressing as schedule.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, he said the first contractor who was awarded the contract just abandoned the project without any justifiable cause.

He said the contract had been re-awarded to a new contractor, Memphis Metropolitan, who would take full charge of the project and complete all abandoned culverts on the road.

“Now that we have a new contractor, there wouldn’t be any more delays as we are hopeful to complete the project by the end of the year,” he added.

Maintenance of the road

Mr Anim urged residents of Omanjor to endeavour to maintain the road when completed.

“Residents should not choke the gutters with garbage to result in rainwater overflowing onto the road and they should also not deliberately pour waste water on it since that could contribute to the quick deterioration of the roads,” he stated.

Expectation of residents

Some residents of Omanjor expressed the hope that the start of construction works would not be a nine-day wonder.

Residents and drivers on the Omanjor road struggle to ply the road which is in a terrible state.

A driver, who only gave his name as Mr Amadu, stated that “I just went to fix a spring which cost me almost GH₵600”.

“Our roads are not good and we have to spend more money on spare parts and maintenance which is more than the sales we make. Even car owners refuse to give their cars to us when we tell them we ply the Omanjor route and to help ourselves, we most often have to lie by mentioning a different route,” he added.

For his part, the Vice Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) Branch of Omanjor, Mr Mensah Awagha, said they had written several letters to the Department of Urban Roads and spoken to the MP for the area but to no avail.