Rehabilitate the Denu-Aflao trunk road — Ziga

Jan 2011
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Member of Parliament for Ketu South, Mr Albert Ziga, has called on the Ministry of Roads and Highways to design short-term measures to rehabilitate the Denu-Aflao trunk road to ensure that it is motorable.
He said that the road had deteriorated to the extent that people in the area could not wait for the long-term arrangement to dualise the road, which is a segment of the ECOWAS Trans-Atlantic Trunk Road project.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the MP said if no interim measure was adopted to correct defects on the road before the rainy season set in, it would be difficult for vehicles using the road to reach their destinations.
“It will not be fair for the people in the area to use such a bad road if nothing was done before the rainy season, which occurs in the area between March and August,” he said.
Mr Ziga said the strategic position of the Aflao border, which was the busiest border in the sub-region and had been exceeding its revenue targets over the years, called for an urgent measure to rehabilitate the road.
“I believe that because of the strategic importance of the road to the country’s economy, it requires immediate attention,” he said, explaining that vehicles from the sub-region, from as far as the Central Africa Republic, use the Denu-Aflao road as their gateway to Ghana.
The MP further explained that what had made matters worse was the fact that roads such as the Keta-Accra Highway, Agozume-Accra Highway and Dzodze-Accra Highway join the Denu-Aflao stretch and thus put much pressure on the deteriorating road.
“Residents of Denu and Aflao and their environs, especially businessmen and shopkeepers living along that stretch of the road have to use nose masks to avoid dust and its associated health hazards,” the MP lamented.
He stated that for the past 30 years, successive governments had maintained the road only through spot improvements, adding that currently that stretch of the road “is completely dead.”
Mr Ziga wondered why roads at the country’s entry points at Elubo and Paga were in excellent conditions while that of Aflao had been left to deteriorate since 2009.
He called on the Ministry of Roads and Highways “to sit up since the people in the area would not be able to accommodate such a deplorable road, especially between March and August when the area experiences torrential rainfall.”
In a related development, Mr Ziga has presented an ultra-sound machine, valued at GH¢11,000, to the Ketu District Hospital.
The machine, which was purchased from the MPs share of the Health Fund, would be used to screen patients, especially expectant mothers who had to travel outside the area for such service.
In addition, the MP is to construct four health posts at Huime, Anoenu, Wudoaba and Glidzi, all within the constituency, from his share of the fund while the Adina Clinic was also being rehabilitated.
On the education sector, the MP told the Daily Graphic that about 100 students in the constituency were offered scholarships last year.