Philanthropist reshapes Ashongman Estate roads
A public-spirited resident of Ashongman Estates in Accra is, at his own expense, reshaping a number of roads in an area of the estates called Bank of Ghana Flats. This is the first time that the roads are being rehabilitated with laterite by an individual.
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The initial works undertaken by the resident, Mr Kwame Danso, included the removal of boulders from the road using earth moving vehicles and machines to make driving easy for all who use the roads.
After that he has brought truckloads of laterite to level parts of the road which were previously bad and difficult to drive on.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Mr Danso said the road works were his personal contribution to the development of the community. "I am a Ghanaian and I live in this community. This is the little I can do to help my community. If we come together as a team, we can do great things," he said.
In recognition of the good work, the Hill Top Residents Association (HITRA) sent a delegation to meet with Mr Danso to commend him for making the community come alive.
The delegation was led by the General Secretary, Mr Rexford Darko. It pledged its support for Mr Danso and presented him would GH¢10,000 as the association's contribution in support of the road project.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Darko said he hoped that a lot of people will show such acts of selflessness to help their communities and the nation at large.
He said HITRA had been rallying residents to contribute their quota towards improving the roads in the community as well as security in the area. He said unfortunately all the efforts did not yield the desired result until "we had this significant boost from Mr Danso."
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Mr Darko further commended the Atomic Hills United Church for constructing a drain along the road in front of the church.
He expressed the hope that the Ga District Assembly would emulate the good example of Mr Danso by initiating development projects to bring relief to residents of the Atomic Hills community. He said what was needed now were more drainage systems in the area to control the heavy run-off from the hills whenever it rained.
He further appealed to the district assembly to assist the philanthropist working on the road with bitumen and road-side drains. He said if these were not done, the good work being done by Mr Danso would not last when the rains set in.
Mr Darko also commended residents for remaining firm and actively supporting and participating in activities run by the association, noting that "united we stand, divided we fall".
A taxi driver, Mr Kwame Antwi, said he was surprised to see the road in its present state. "I have not been to this area in a long time and so when I got a 'dropping' to this area, I was thinking about the bad nature of the road only to find it is now like a motorway," he observed with smiles.
A resident, Ms Akua Ntiriwah, said she normally spent about seven minutes to drive from the main junction to her house but now she used about a minute or even less to get home.
She urged the district assembly to support Mr Danso in the great job he was doing, considering the fact that road construction works were capital-intensive.