We need better roads – Larteh Chief tells gov’t

The people of Larteh in the Eastern region are demanding better roads from the government. They bemoaned how time is unduly delayed for drivers who use the roads because of its deplorable state.

Drivers have to drive with extra caution to avoid damaging their gearboxes or engines because of the rocky nature of the road. A resident speaking to Peter Quao Adattor says there are visible trails of engine oil spillage all over the road.

“The nature of the road poses a great challenge to commuters who transport dead bodies to the Larteh cemetery. The road is just one narrow stretch within the community as one long vehicle on the road brings other vehicles to a halt momentarily for hours. It sometimes takes over two hours to clear the road for others to have passage.” the respondent added.

“There were earlier attempts in the 1950s by the indigents to make the road motorable but that was stalled because some of the stones were difficult to crush. Moreover, it was apparent that the government at the time was not ready to tar the road should they manage to level it”.

That notwithstanding, the people of Larteh came together once after having to persuade the central and local governments to no avail. Aside from improving the town roads, the citizens through levies and other contributions cleared an abandoned four-kilometre road that links the community to Dodowa and Accra. In the absence of this road, commuting to and from Larteh is done through Ayikuma, which is about eleven kilometres or Mamfe, which is even longer and in a poor state.

The need for the shorter Lartey-Dodowa road has become even more essential following the establishment of the modern Dodowa hospital. Hitherto, referrals from the Larteh health centre and other health care emergencies are taken through the bad Mamfe road, leading sometimes to complications.

Chief of Larteh Kubease, Nana Agyemfra VI, one of the two Lartey chiefs, was equally disappointed in the way the community was neglected by successive governments. According to him, all attempts to lobby the government to fix the road have yielded no result. He praised his subjects for the initiative while urging the central government not to turn its back on them this time around. According to him, the topography of the area is mountainous, hence work done by the community will come to not if steps are not taken to tar the roads.