Regional News of Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-01-19Drivers call for re-engineering of road at dreaded Asitey enclave
play videoThere have been so many accidents on the stretch
Correspondence from Eastern Region:
Transport executives, drivers and passengers plying the 24-kilometer Odumase-Oterkporlu road in the Eastern Region have expressed worry at the failure of authorities to initiate measures to address incidents of rampant accidents on the stretch, particularly the Asitey enclave of the road.
The drivers who claim to have identified areas and spots on the road that
Read full articlerecord most of the road crashes want authorities of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to as a matter of urgency take proactive measures to fix the danger.
The Asitey stretch of the road characterized with many curves and bends has remained a dreaded area over the years with many terrifying fatal accidents being recorded in the area.
What appears to have aggravated the situation however is the presence of several multi-wheeled trucks on the road conveying limestone from Odugblase and Oterkporlu to factories in Tema and Takoradi.
Some of the accidents involved vehicles plunging into ditches with others colliding with the limestone hauling trucks. Incidents of the trucks failing brakes and ramming into homes have similarly been recorded in the past.
According to the transport executives, though accidents were not entirely absent prior to the reconstruction of the road, its new nature poses dangers to road users.
PROTOA station master at Odumase, Largmeh Francis in an interview blamed the recurrent accidents on the stretch on the contractor who changed the course on sections of the road, particularly in that enclave during its reconstruction.
The contract for the construction of the Odumase-Oterkporlu was awarded in 2015 to Joshop Company Limited who have failed to complete the project seven years on.
“We have one challenge on this road and that is many curves and when the contractor was coming to reconstruct the road, he changed the road so we have many curves and parts of the road, the contractor didn’t finish and we don’t know why so the road is not good so always there is an accident on this road because we have big cars carrying limestone from Odugblase to Tema, Takoradi and they use this road,” explained the station master.
Vehicle parts of cars that frequent the road, he added, are frequently affected due to the excessive pressure during ascending and descending the hilly enclave. He said, “Sometimes, their cars will spoil because the road is not good and they descend the mountain so they apply the brakes and this spoils their cars, always they are buying spare parts because of the nature of the roads.”
A driver shared similar views. According to him, drivers descending the hills experience mechanical difficulties with their brakes.
The driver noted: “Formerly, we were not seeing many accidents on this road until its reconstruction. This has complicated the descending process. When you descend to this point, your brake heats up and this results in accidents.”
Speaking at one of the sharp bends and the very spot where seven persons perished in 2019, the driver said though several complaints and subsequent follow-ups were made by officials of the GHA to take measurements at the spot, nothing has been done about the situation three years on, to either construct a barricade or fix an alternative route leading to the Krobo Girls Senior High School. The alternative route, he noted could be accessed by drivers who suffer brake failures and may not be able to successfully maneuver their way through the sharp curve.
Odumase Station Master of the GPRTU, Mr. S.T. Quaye recounted some of the notable accidents that have occurred on that stretch of the road over the years. He recalled an instance where four people died when a mini-truck loaded with cattle crashed into a limestone truck and somersaulted down the hill into the valley.
Similarly, a limestone truck crashed into a house after it failed its breaks while descending the hills, killing an occupant of the house in his sleep.
Perhaps the most horrific of these accidents was the 2019 killing of seven persons who died on the spot when the bus on which they were traveling ran into a valley at Asitey as a result of brake failure.
Barely five days later, a KIA Truck crashed into a tree at Ayermesu, killing three persons aboard.
Four people also died on the spot when a minibus on which they were traveling from Asesewa to Odumase crashed into a stationary truck in the same enclave.
Most recently on Saturday, January 15, 2022, one person died in an accident at Ayemersu.
Mr. Quaye, just as the others attributed the various accidents on that part of the road to the change in alignment and appealed to the Ghana Highway Authority to reconstruct the road through its former route to avert future accidents.
According to him, passengers and drivers who frequented the road dreaded using the stretch with the huge tipper trucks approaching at every turn.
Maintenance Manager at the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) in the Eastern Region, Ernest Osei Bonsu in response denied the assertions of the transport operators. According to him, there was no such change in the alignment of the road during its reconstruction.
He however added that any such change could be at the discretion of the engineer handling the contract.
“I am not aware there had been any change in the course of the road…there hasn’t been any change in alignment,” he noted. “In any case when there should be a change in alignment, it is the engineer…when he changes the alignment, we improve the alignment. When we’re doing construction, we improve alignment.”
He identified a portion on the stretch named as ‘kilometer 3’ as an accident hotspot based upon which the contractor’s attention was drawn to it. However, he has failed to fix the defect.
He said the contractor has failed to fully execute the project, forcing the Authority to issue him with two warning letters.
He told GhanaWeb, “Before Christmas we wrote to the contractor, we’ve given him two warning letters because that road has been there for a long time, [and] he has been unable to complete it. There are sections that are bad that he has to fix…we gave the contractor warning letters to come to the site and complete the outstanding work and treat the defects that are on the road.”
As a result of this, the maintenance manager disclosed that the GHA will commence processes to terminate the contract on that road.
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