Residents of old Bakanta in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region are calling on Government to urgently fix their road to boost economic activities in the area.
According to the residents, not a single road in the community has been constructed, despite the presence of oil-producing companies including Eni Ghana whose operations cover a large portion of the land.
A mother in the community who is a petty trader, said she goes through a lot of hurdles to convey her goods in and out of the market because there are no cars to ease their burdens.
“When the meat has to be transported, because of the bad nature of the road, we don’t get cars. We can trek from here to Sanzule. We are distressed, and if we don’t make the money, we can’t take care of our kids in school,” she said.
The traders are not the only sufferers in the area; children who stay far away from the community school have to trek too to attend classes.
Meanwhile, the school has been split into two−Primary on one side and Junior High School on the other side of the Amanzule river. Students who have their school on the other sides of the river have additional trouble of having to cross to make it to class.
Averagely, however, commuters have to walk over 4 kilometres to have access to moving cars before they can attend to their daily activities.
Some drivers who ply the road also complained bitterly about how they spend larger portions of their income to fix their cars.
A driver said, “on my way here, I got pushed almost seven times before reaching my destination because the road is sandy”.
They are therefore calling on the government and the oil-producing companies operating within the area to help construct the road for them.
The Chief of Old and New Bakanta, Nana Akaa Nwonza III, adding his voice to the call, explained that the soil is loose hence anything that passes over it tends to sink into it.
“Road under normally is supposed to be pliable in the dry season, but because the sand here is loose, when it is sunny travelling on it becomes difficult. But in the wet season, it becomes compact and easier to travel on”
He said that the government should construct from the Sanzule to Amanzule river and from the other side of the water body to the adjoining communities to ease their troubles, but for the river itself “we and the students can cross by boats because the primary school is on this side and the JHS is on the other side.”
