Atebubu-Kwame Danso road project fuels robbery and accidents

Communities along the 31-kilometre Atebubu-Kwame Danso road in the Brong-Ahafo Region have appealed to government to quickly intervene for the contractor to resume work on the project.

They said since construction work on the single-seal bituminous surface dressing and single-dash carriage two-way road was abandoned about four years ago and armed robberies and road crashes has increased on the stretch.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Kwame-Danso, the capital town of Sene West District, Mr. Joseph Mackay Kumah, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2012 and 2016 Parliamentary candidate for the area, said it is difficult for vehicles to ply on the road, especially in the rainy season.

The late President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod for work to begin on the construction of the road in April 2011 and it was to be completed within two years by a Wa-based road construction firm, A and N, at the cost of GH¢32.5 million.

But, the contract was later re-awarded to Ghanem Construction Firm after A and N failed to live up to expectation and since then nothing meaningful has been done on the road.

A visit by the GNA revealed the extent of the abandoned project and the effect it was having on movements and economic activities of the people who are mostly farmers in the area.

Sections of the road have developed trenches and potholes, a situation which is making it difficult especially for commercial vehicles to ply on it.

Mr. Kumah said this year more than four accidents have occurred on the road adding that because of its nature armed robbers easily blocked certain sections to rob victims.

The situation has put fear in the people, especially businessmen and women who travel on that stretch of road to transact their businesses, he said.
On completion, Mr. Kumah said the road would also be one of the shortest routes from the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions to the Volta Region.

He said since the area is dominated by predominantly farming communities, the socio-economic benefits of the project would be enormous and appealed to the government to come to the aid of the people.