Motorists plying the Accra- Kumasi highway have appealed to the government to complete the dual carriageway from Gyankrom, near Nsawam, to Apedwa Nkwanta, near Suhum, in the Eastern Region.
According to them, the 60-km stretch of the highway, left unattended to for the past 15 years, was responsible for the many road crashes that had claimed many lives along that route.
When the Ghanaian Times visited Asuboi, the project site of the Chinese contractors, Messrs China Water and Electrical Construction Limited (CWECL) , a huge heap of chippings engulfed in weeds was seen while dust had covered pieces of heavy construction equipment there.
Some accident vehicles that could not be salvaged were also seen lying on the accident spots along the road such as Teacher Mantey, Kyekyewere, Kabu Hill, Niifio Apedwa Nkwanta, Sampson Pampaso No 1×2 and Asiaka.
A heavy duty truck driver at Teacher Mantey, Kofi Mensah, told the reporter that accidents were frequent scenes in the area and the residents had no other option than live with them.
He said as frequent road users of that stretch, they always prayed that nothing would happen to them but the weekly blood spillage could be a thing of the past if the government would fulfil its promise of completing the second lane of the carriageway.
A Sprinter bus driver at the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, Nana Osei Owusu, said the completed lane had become a death trap, as break-down heavy duty trucks take over the shoulders leaving other vehicles to struggle on the single lanes, which always caused the accidents.
He, therefore, urged the government to prioritise the debts owed the contractor to enable them to complete the road by the end of this year.
CWECL abandoned the project for four-and-a-half years under former President John Mahama over US$45 million owed them by the government.
Persistent public outcry in 2019 attracted the attention of the then Minister of Roads, Kwasi Amoako Atta, who promised to settle the debt for the contractors to complete the two lanes by August 2020.
However, the contractor only managed to complete one lane, leaving the second lane undone, despite a section of it being covered with chippings, meaning the project has been abandoned again with portions outgrown with weeds.
FROM LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU, NSAWAM
