The Ahamansu Junction stretch of the Eastern Corridor Road in the Kadjebi District has developed cracks and potholes within two years of its construction and commissioning.
During the Ghana News Agency’s (GNA) visit on Sunday, October 13, some potholes were observed in the middle of the road harvesting rainfall water.
Mr. Solomon Bombor, a taxi driver on the Kadjebi-Nkwanta network, expressed his disappointment to the GNA about the emerging condition of the segment, which he described as “very unfortunate and bad.”
He stated that despite their advice to the contractors, Sinohydro Corporation Limited, to use pavement blocks, given their familiarity with the area’s topography, the contractor failed to heed.
Mr. Bombor noted that the area tends to get wet during the dry season, but during the rainy season, the road becomes impassable.
He stated that if the the presence of the Police on the segment to direct traffic, many fatal accidents would have been recorded.
He appealed to the Ghana Highways Authority to come and rectify the situation as it was “getting deteriorated.”
Mr. Bombor also disclosed to the GNA that Poase-Cement and Dodo-Pepesu stretch of the road also had similar defects, so the authorities should act with dispatch.
Mr. Samuel Hayibor, another Driver, expressed his concern about the poor condition of the road, warning that unsuspecting drivers may get into accidents if they are not aware of the state of those portions.
He is urging the authorities to take prompt action and repair the road to prevent any avoidable accidents.
Mr. Ben Tunde, Area Manager, Ghana Highways Authority (GHA), Dambai, when contacted by the GNA confirmed knowledge of the problems.
He said contract has been awarded to a Contractor and that he would soon come to site to fix the problems.
Mr. Tunde commended GNA for showing much concern about the state of the road.
Meanwhile, Mr Emmanuel Okang Klu, Ghana Highway Authority Supervising Engineer for the project told the Ghana News Agency, in an interview that the deteriorating portions of the network would be patched accordingly.
He, however, explained that heavy traffic of overloading trucks traversing the corridor leaves much to be desired.
He said overloaded and heavy construction trucks that ply the eastern corridor is an affront to the material base used to construct the road, featuring into the breakdown of the road.
Mr Klu suggested the establishment of axle-load weighing stations along the corridor to avoid the situation.
He said in some jurisdictions, such overloaded trucks were surcharged or compelled to offload its excess cargo to safeguard the road from destruction, adding that the cost of damage far outweighs the surcharges.
The Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia commissioned the asphalted Jasikan to Dodo-Pepesu stretch of the Eastern Corridor Road on October 25, 2022.
This 56.4 kilometre stretch of road was constructed by Sinohydro Corporation Limited and cost $45 million.
The road is expected to enhance economic development and improve accessibility within Jasikan, Kadjebi, Nkwanta and beyond.
