By Alfred Adams
But for the swift intervention of personnel drawn from the Bogoso Command of the Ghana Police Service and the Chief of Bogoso, Nana Kwesi Sompreh II, commuters travelling by road from Bogoso to Kumasi, and from Tarkwa to Prestea, may not have been allowed to complete their journey.
This is because of a road block mounted by the youth and commercial drivers of Bogoso in protest against what they described as ‘shoddy’ work being done by the contractor working on the Tarkwa-Ayanfuri-Bogoso road.
Information available to The Chronicle indicates that the protestors, who were clad in red, early morning on Tuesday, converged on the Bogoso lorry station market, blocking the access road at B-Line, which leads to Prestea, and the main road linking Kumasi, in protest at the need for the contractor working on the road to do the right thing.
Reynolds Construction Company is the contractor working on the Tarkwa-Ayanfuri- Bogoso road, a 94.4-kilometre road which was awarded to the company in 2010. The late President John Atta Mils cut the sod for the commencement of the construction of the road which is being funded by a European Union grant.
The 70 million Euros funded Tarkwa Bogoso-Ayanfuri road project was to be completed by July 2014, but slackness in the work rate has pushed the completion date to December 2015. Since the cutting of the sod, signalling commencement of construction, the contractor has been working at a snail’s pace.
However, indigenes of Bogoso, together with commercial drivers who use the road, have questioned the slow rate and technical capability of the contractor.
As a means of drumming home their frustration, the protestors chose to mount roadblocks on the main road linking Kumasi and Prestea, leaving commuters stranded for hours. The protestors said that the Bogoso roundabout has been relocated making the road narrower.
Again, kiosk and other structures dotted along the road, which should have been were sloped into the main Bogoso township, which should have been otherwise. A journalist, Nana Fletcher, who witnessed the protest, told this reporter in a telephone interview that it had to take the Bogoso police and the chief of the area to intervene before eventually, the protestors removed the road blocks.
According to the journalist, the commuters had to endure the inconvenience of sitting in their vehicles for four hours, adding that the protestors had vowed to continue with the protest if the contractor failed to speed up work.
Considering the importance of the road to the people of the region, the Western Regional House of Chiefs (WRHC), led by its President, last year paid a working visit to inspect progress of work.
The President of the House, Osagyefo Kwamina Enimil V, who is the Omanhene of Wassa Fiase Traditional Area, also had Awulae Attibrukusu III, Vice President of the National House of Chiefs, amongst others accompanying him.
At the site, Osagyefo Dr Kwamena Enimil V raised concerns about the slow nature at which the project was being undertaken. He sought to find the reason behind the delay, and expressed the frustration and discontent of the people with regards to the road.
His comments were reiterated with much conviction and aggressiveness by Awuale Atibrukusu III. He complained about the general work output, and tasked both the contractor and supervisor to put in all possible efforts to get the project on track.