Regional News of Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Source: GNA

MP supports rehabilitation of feeder roads

Mr Jeff Kevianu, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper-Manya Krobo Constituency, is funding the services of a tipper truck towards the reshaping and rehabilitation of feeder roads in his area.

The rehabilitation works would benefit communities that have been cut off from the central area because of their bad roads and farming communities where drivers refuse to ply thus leaving large farm produce to rot. The farmers mainly cultivate garden eggs, tomatoes, pepper and okro.

According to the MP, the move would boost farming activities, which is the mainstay of the communities, and the livelihoods of the people. The MP said he was touched by the plight of the farmers whose produce had rotten so he decided to aid them, though the Feeder Roads Department was responsible for fixing the roads.

He has, therefore, engaged engineers who are working out the modalities for the project. With hilly and rocky nature of area, some roads would have to be levelled whiles others have to be filled with gravels.

Mr Kevianu told the GNA Media Auditing and Development Tracking Team that most of the roads had been awarded to contractors but they had abandoned the projects. The team is undertaking the auditing project, sponsored by Star-Ghana, as part of efforts to promote democracy at the grassroots.

The GNA learnt that the Asesewa-Akrosu-Akotue, Sekesua and Takroase roads were among the projects that had been abandoned. Recently, the team published reports on the bad nature of feeder roads in the Upper Manya Krobo District and their effect on the local economy.

The Upper-Manya Krobo District was carved out of the Manya Krobo District eight years ago. It has more than 200 communities, which are connected by feeder roads. However, all the roads are in bad shape and so people have to trek an average of six kilometres to get to Asesewa, the district capital.

Apart from the main Koforidua-Asesewa road and the Asesewa –Akateng road, which are tarred, as the ‘highway’ in the district, all other roads are un-motorable thus affecting the general wellbeing of the people.

The people had made several appeals for the rehabilitation of their roads to facilitate their farming activities but to no avail.