Communities express concern over poor roads

Akuapem Asuoho (E/R), Nov 4, GNA - Communities around Akuapem Asuoho in the Eastern Region have expressed concern about the deplorable nature of roads in the area, and blamed road contractors for their predicament.

The communities led by Opanyin Ofosu Manu, a Chief Farmer, raised their concerns at a forum organized by drivers, farmers and food-sellers to discuss the way forward in draw Government's attention to their plight.

He mentioned particularly the road from Nsawam to Aburi and cautioned that it was time Government became bold to weed out non-performing contractors from the system so that the country's scarce resources would be saved.

He said because of the shoddy works of some of contractors the roads had become so bad that drivers could not cart foodstuffs from those areas, a situation that created difficulties for farmers whose produce were left to go rotten on their farms.

Opanyin Manu said road construction and maintenance had caused the nation huge amounts of money and therefore suggested that supervision of road construction should be carried out thoroughly before payments were made to the contractors.

He said the background of a road contractor must also be strictly checked before he or she was awarded the project, stressing that this would help to ensure that the unscrupulous ones did not cheat the system.

The chief farmer called on the Ministry of Roads and Highways to undertake stringent inspection of completed road projects before monies were released for payment.

Opanyin Manu said this would forestall some of the problems concerning road construction in the country and save the monies that would have gone to shoddy road contractors for other development projects.