By: Ewoenam Kpodo | Voltaonlinegh.com |
The Secretary of PROTOA, Hohoe branch, Mr Godsway Amuyawo has suggested to government to employ build-operate-transfer (BOT) to complete the Eastern Corridor Road which had been abandoned for years to give users of the road some respite.
According to him, delays by sucessive governments to complete the road despite several promises meant governments were having difficulty securing funds to complete the road, thus, the need to resort to BOT.
By this suggestion, Mr Amuyawo wanted government to delegate a private construction company to take over the Eastern Corridor Road project and finance it to completion and then own, and operate the facility for a certain period to enable it recover its investment, operating and maintenance expenses in the project and then transfer the road to the public administration at the end of the concession agreement.
He said government needed to use this strategy as done in other countries to complete the project which began in 2011 and scheduled to be completed in 2013 to serve as the major link road between the south and north.
He proffered the advice on Friday during a protest by members of concerned road users including driver unions and market women in Hohoe in the Volta Region.
The angry residents, in registering their displeasure over the deplorable nature of their town roads linking other towns and districts in the region, put roadblocks on the main road and burned tyres causing a total gridlock.
A release by Concerned Eastern Corridor Road Users read by Daniel Kporfor, complained bitterly about the delay in fixing the road and stressed “we want to emphasise that we are tired of the numerous promises by previous and current governments.”
“We want government as a matter of urgency to attend to our roads” it said threatening that the group will continue with agitations until work resumes on the road.
The GPRTU Secretary, Hohoe branch, Mr Winfred Akpah in an interview with Voltaonlinegh.com said their initial plan was to hold a peaceful demonstration to draw government’s attention to their woes and to impress upon it to fast-track processes to get solution to their problem.
According to him, the Hohoe Police ran to court and succeeded in restraining them few hours to the planned demonstration and that provoked the youth to block the roads which prevented vehicles passage including Ghana National Fire Service Vehicle until ater in the day.
Speaking to Voltaonlinegh.com, most drivers complained that the poor state of roads in the municipality linking other towns especially on the Eastern Corridor stretch, kept damaging their cars, causing them to spend unreasonably long hours on journeys that should take minutes to cover thus, impacting negatively on their socio-economic life.
They noted that successive governments had failed to keep their promises of completing the road hence their call for the road to be fixed without any more delays.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com