Residents along settlements at the Weija barrier, Tollbooth and Block Factory areas have pleaded with the government to address the adverse effects of flooding on their stretch of the Mallam- Kasoa Highway near the tollbooth.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday on the effect of flooding on the section of the highway, an opinion leader in the Block- Factory community, Opanin Ebenezer Dankyi, said over the years, whenever it rained heavily in the area, it caused serious flooding into rooms making life unbearable.
He said the flooding also led to intense traffic on that stretch of the highway, compelling motorists to wade through the waters at their own peril.
Ghanaian Times has observed that during heavy rains, one part of the three-lane dual carriage at the Toll booth and the Block Factory stretch is flooded with mudslide from the hills, making it impassable.
Traffic is often diverted onto the other dual carriage, but it comes with its attendant chaotic situation, as some impatient motorists tend to drive dangerously on the shoulders of the road.
The severity of the flood at the area often compelled school authorities to close down schools for the water to recede, to forestall any calamity.
Mr Dankyi therefore, appealed to the government to come to their aid by addressing the challenge once and for all, because they were tired of the perennial problem they went through.
Madam Comfort Kwakye, a resident said they had made several appeals to politicians to lobby for them to get the situation rectified, but to no avail.
Reacting to the environmental degradation and flooding and its effects at the Kasoa tollbooth and Weija Barrier- Atala Stretch of the Mallam Kasoa Highway, the Head of the Public Affairs of the Ghana Highway Authority, Mr Cecil Nii Obodai Wentumi, noted that a contractor had just been engaged to distil the gutters at the Kasoa tollbooth and the Weija Barrier to Atala stretch.
He emphasised that the Ga South Assembly and the Weija –Gbawe Municipal Assembly had to ensure that they did not give permit to developers who encroach on the Tuba Mountains at the tollbooth to build houses.
He pointed out that stone-cracking and sand winning activities also should be stopped by the Assemblies since they had all the powers to stop such human activities at unauthorised places.
Nii Obodai Wentumi added that because the green vegetation there was depleted by human activities, heavy rains washed the sand and stones to choke gutters and also the water washed sand unto the highway, thus causing inconvenience and traffic to road users.
He emphasised the perennial flooding challenge needed to be put to an end by the assemblies in the areas.
He pointed out that the above Assemblies allegedly watched the developers to create the bad situation along the Highway, through unapproved human activities leading to that pathetic situation.
Nii Obodai Wentumi further explained that, it was the duty of the Ghana Highway Authority to build roads and that was exactly what they were doing, adding that the Assemblies had to desist from giving permit to developers to build haphazardly at unapproved places such as what is going on at Tuba Hills.
BY BERNARD QUANSON
