Craters and potholes have suddenly emerged on some major roads in Accra following the recent rains in the country, impeding the smooth movement of vehicles across the city.

The hardest hit are the stalled road projects whose unpaved portions have created gaping holes with the onset of the rains.

The Dr K. A. Busia Highway, Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange, Junction Mall at Nungua, Teshie town roads, Zongo Junction, the outer lanes on both sides of the N1 from the Nii Boi Town Lorry Station to the Liberty Centre Assemblies of God Church, and the Abossey Okai Central Mosque stretch are the worst affected.

Motorists and commuters for some weeks now have to endure long queues because of the slow movement of vehicles through potholes and craters of various shapes and sizes — shallow, deep, narrow, wide or a combination of these features.

Aside from the slow movement of vehicles, the craters and potholes have also put the lives of pedestrians and other road users in danger as drivers try to meander their way around them.

Many drivers who consistently use these roads have ended up damaging their shocks, ball joints and other parts of their vehicles.

Moreover, road users are exposed to further danger when there is poor illumination.

This came to light during a tour by the Daily Graphic team in some areas in Accra. 

Further danger

Compounding the problem on some of the roads are the exposed underground drains whose metal grids have either been stolen or washed away.

On the Dr K. A. Busia Highway, for instance, the potholes and craters can be seen in the outer lane from Accra Academy through the Police Quarters and the Darkuman Junction.

The Daily Graphic team observed that the Kaneshie Mpamprom and First Light areas which were in a deplorable state with gullies, resulting in traffic congestion, had the gullies filled with gravels and stones.

However, traders and drivers believe that a more lasting solution should have been found to the problem since any downpour would end up washing away the gravels and stones and expose the gullies again.

Users

Most users of the road, who are mostly from Mallam and beyond, have described the situation on the road as unacceptable and expressed concern about the lack of attention on such a major road.

Some of them told the Daily Graphic in separate interviews that there was the need for the government to take steps to get the entire road rehabilitated as soon as possible.

A commercial driver, Kwesi Bondzie, who plies between Nyanyano and Accra, said he did not understand why the road would be left to deteriorate to such a state.

According to him, the long hours spent in traffic on the road was a huge drain on him as a driver.

Unfortunately, he added, drivers from Kasoa and beyond were really bearing the brunt of a bad stretch of road as they had to deal with traffic at the tollbooths, SCC Junction and Atala.

“After crossing all these places, you come and meet another traffic at Odorkor, First Light to Mpramprom,” Mr Bondzie said.

Others

An information technology specialist, Kojo Addae, also noted that authorities should have taken note of the roads and put measures in place before the rains set in.

He said the Dr Busia Highway had been in a deplorable state for some time now right from the Obetsebi Lamptey through to the Mallam Junction.

“You go and see the potholes, check the outer lanes from First Light to Odorkor.

This is bad and something must be done about it,” he said.

A second-hand clothes dealer and resident of Kasoa, Vivian Boateng, said because of the long hours vehicles spent in traffic, it resulted in passengers on their way to Accra, getting stranded at the various bus stops.

“The trotros do not come quickly because of the traffic congestion they find themselves in.

It is a problem because some of us come home late from Accra because of traffic and we have to also leave early in the morning.

In the end, we have little time to sleep,” she lamented.

A commuter, Adjoa Werekua, said from Odorkor to Accra, a vehicle that previously took 30 minutes now spent like two hours because of traffic as a result of the poor state of the road.

“The situation is much worse at Kaneshie Mpamprom.

The journey to Accra takes like an hour before getting to work from that place.

The stretch is in a deplorable state with potholes, and open drains.

The pothole-ridden road along the stretch has become increasingly alarming and worrying, which makes the cost of road transport high and very risky,” she said.

Nungua 

During the visit to the Junction Mall area at Nungua, the Daily Graphic team saw gullies filled with muddy water.

Many motorists plying the route to and from Tema had to plunge the bumpers of their vehicles into the muddy water to pass through.

The team saw two tricycle riders, David and Emmanuel, who were washing mud off bags of sachet water they were carrying from Adogonno to Tema.

They said the tricycle tumbled into the muddy water with the bags.

The riders added that although there was no work ongoing at the Nungua Interchange, the portion with the gullies should be made motorable.

As the team toured the area, passengers, conductors and drivers asked the reporters to inform the authorities to come and fix the road.

A private vehicle owner, David Tetteh, said: “It is sad to go through this.

I mean it is unacceptable, how can you drive through this danger every day?

This is bad,” he said, and called for an immediate solution to the problem.

“Tell the authorities to come and see Nungua Junction Mall, the place is very bad,” he lamented.  

Teshie

In Teshie, which witnessed a demonstration by residents against bad roads in the area a fortnight ago, the Daily Graphic team saw that most of the roads were in a deplorable state.

The bitumen on most of the roads in the town had been completely washed off as a result of the rains and years of neglect.

Roads in places including Coffee Street, the Ford School area, King Cobra, Tsui Bleoo and Manna Mission area had multiple potholes on them.

In some areas, residents had to fill them with stones in order to make the stretch motorable.

A taxi driver, Kwadwo Osei, said they (commercial drivers) were suffering as they had to keep changing their shocks and tyres.

“That is why we demonstrated recently.

I believe you have seen everything for yourself,” he asked.

Outside the wall of the Central Mosque on the Abossey Okai-Korle Bu Road, the Graphic team saw puddles of muddy water.

While some drivers avoided them, others drove through them to connect to Agbogbloshie.

Also, the outer lanes on both sides of the N1 from the Nii Boi Town Lorry Station to the Liberty Centre Assemblies of God Church and from the Lapaz branch of Papaye through the flattop flyover had huge potholes.

The potholes are so bad that drivers who try to swerve almost end up hitting pedestrians.

They look as if they have been dug out and very dangerous at night, particularly for first-time drivers on the highway.

Engineer

The Resident Engineer of the firm supervising the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange project, FAS Consult Limited, Owusu Sekyere Antwi, acknowledged the deteriorating state of the roads around the interchange and said a skeletal staff were assigned to the site from time to time to reshape the road.

He said the rains, particularly last Wednesday’s rainfall, had deteriorated the roads but he quickly added that the staff moved in last Friday to reshape the road by levelling and patching potholes created by the rain.

“A lot of potholes have been created because of the rains so we used a grader to level and reshape it and where necessary we patched the potholes,” Mr Antwi said.

Officials

No official of the Ministry of Roads and Highways will speak on record. A source, however, told the Daily Graphic that road projects which had dedicated funds were ongoing.

They included the School Junction – Motorway project, the Pokuase Roads upgrade and the Palace Roundabout Overpass – which were all financed by the AFRIEXIM Bank and were going on as scheduled.

However, those with donor funding which depended on the government honouring certificates of work were those that had stalled.

Another source from the Ministry of Finance said the government would soon come out with a policy direction on when stalled projects such as roads, school blocks and hospitals would resume, including their financing arrangements.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline