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The Coalition of Krobo Groups from Somanya and Odumase-Krobo in the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo municipalities in the Eastern Region has submitted a petition to President John Dramani Mahama to urgently fix the Somanya-Kpong road to avoid further deterioration.
The group petitioned the President through their respective municipal chief executives (MCEs) to direct the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ghana Highways Authority to ensure the immediate return of the contractor to site within 60 days.
It also demanded that the contractor must also ensure the use of durable materials to withstand the heavy limestone-hauling traffic on the Somanya-Kpong roads.
These were contained in a petition submitted to the President and was received on his behalf by the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Chief Executive, John Atter Matey, after a peaceful demonstration from Somanya to Odumase-Krobo yesterday.
The two-and-a-half hours demonstration, dubbed: ‘’The coalition of local groups fix Somanya to Kpong road demo’’, started at the Somanya Roundabout at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 11a.m with placards, some of which read: Fix Akuse to Asutsuare Road, road maintenance is not optional”; “Terlabi and Nyakotey wake up”, “the president appointed ministers but they are failing us”; “our women are suffering to Agomanya Market”; “Krobo MPs wake up”, among others.
The petition, which was read by the Chairman of Kloma Hengme, one of the coalition groups, Isaac Tamatey Otu, said the Somanya-Kpong road was a critical transportation artery that linked Somanya, Odumase-Krobo and Kpong and served as a major route connecting the Krobo area, the Akosombo-Tema industrial corridor and the Volta Region.
The road, Mr Otu explained, was last constructed in 2016 by First Sky Construction Limited, but began to deteriorate just a few years after completion.
‘’Let me emphasise here that one of the factors widely observed by the public that contributed to the rapid deterioration of the road is the continuous movement of heavy limestone-hauling trucks along the stretch and the failure of successive governments to employ materials suitable to withstand such weight.
These trucks place immense stress on the surface, thereby accelerating its deterioration,” Mr Otu said.
He said mounting public discontent and threats of protest during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration prompted its inclusion as an addendum to the broader Nkuranka-Trom Road project by the Ministry of Roads and Highways and was awarded to General Construction Limited.
He said work on the road commenced around July 2024 and progressed steadily until the change of government in January 2025.
Mr Otu further explained that since the transition, work on the road had been abandoned for several months due to the government’s non-payment of the contractor.
‘’The result of this development is the deplorable road characterised by thick dust, deep potholes and hazardous driving conditions.
This has become the daily reality for motorists, schoolchildren, traders, and health workers along the route’’, he added.
The group said the health and economic costs of the neglect were staggering as traders, commuters, schoolchildren and residents inhaled dust daily with visible increases in respiratory infections, eye diseases and chronic coughs.
In addition, vehicle maintenance costs have risen steeply, transport fares have been increased arbitrarily and worst of all, commercial drivers now avoid the route altogether, creating unnecessary pressure on commuters.
