Residents who use the Bolga-Soe stretch of road that goes to Bongo have expressed severe displeasure about the nature of the speed ramps on the roads. The uncompleted speeds ramps, they say, are perilous.
Some of the residents who spoke to A1 Radio at the time of the News Team’s visit claimed that the current nature of the speed ramps has cost one resident his life.
When the Assembly Member for the Bolgo-soe Electoral Area, Lambert Akunzebe spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, he confirmed the reports by the residents in the area.
He explained that the speed ramps became necessary after more than 90 lives were lost on that stretch. Despite the urgent need to fix the ramps to control the speed of vehicles, Mr. Akunzebe explained that the contractor has adopted a rather lethargic way of approaching the issues.
The reason, he said, to this day, the speed ramps remain uncompleted.
“In 2021 alone, 99 precious lives were lost on that particular stretch of road alone. We were assured that within three months, the contract would be fully executed. The whole thing started last year April when the contractor, the said Ibrahim Bugre, came and poured chippings on the road,” he said.
After the chippings were brought to the site, Mr. Akunzebe explained that they became a nuisance because they were not promptly used. After agitations by the residents with no response from the contractor, the residents collected the chippings from the road.
“All effort to try to reach him [the contractor] proved futile. We kept calling and all he said was that he will be coming but he was not coming. Finally, the community took it upon ourselves to say that, why don’t we clear these chippings in order to save lives,” he added.
According to the Assembly Member for the Bolga-soe Central Electoral Area, sometime in June 2021, the contractor finally began work on the speed ramps.
“Two weeks after the clearing of the chippings, the said contractor came and began work on the uncompleted speed ramps. In a week, he finished the half speed ramps from Parks and Gardens to Bongo. Since that time, we have not seen the said Ibrahim Bugre on site. We tried reaching out to him, but he would not even pick up the phone call,” he said.
The Assembly Member said he has forwarded the concerns of the people of the area to the Ghana Highways Authority and the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly.
Meanwhile, attempts by A1 Radio to seek official responses from the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) has proved futile.
A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
