GHA Responds to Accra-Nsawam Road Danger

By Kingsley Asare

The Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) is to construct a drainage on the Hebron-Dobro section of the Accra-Nsawam Highway to prevent sand and mud from being dumped onto the road from a nearby hill through erosion.

It said the road would thereafter be reconstructed, when variation of the scope of work was completed.

This was disclosed here yesterday, when the Director of Road Maintenance of the GHA, Maama Markwei Sawyer paid a working visit to the Hebron-Dobro section of the highway to see the extent of danger; and find immediate solutions to them.

Mr Sawyer's visit followed a Ghanaian Times publication that danger was looming on the Amasaman-Nsawam Highway due to huge potholes on the stretch and sand deposits on Hebron section of the highway.

The sand deposits caused as a result erosion from the nearby hill has been impeding vehicular movement any time it rains, thus putting the lives of commuters and pedestrians at risk.

He was accompanied by representatives of Urban Roads, engineers from the Ga West and Nsawam-Adoagyiri municipalities and the National Disaster Management Organisation.

Also present were property owners along the road, representatives of the chief of Hebron and residents of the area.

Mr Sawyer, briefing the Ghanaian Times after the tour said his outfit would soon construct the drainage in a bid to find a lasting solution to the problem and protect the lives of road users.

He hinted that his outfit was yet to design and estimate the cost of the drain and construction would begin immediately these were done.

Mr Sawyer said the project would be financed by the government and property owners along the road.

Mr Sawyer entreated the Works Department of the Ga West Municipality Assembly to stop private developers who had filled both banks of the Dobro River with sand ostensibly to construct commercial properties.

The Municipal Engineer of the Ga West Municipal Assembly, Eric Donkor promised the assembly would stop these developers from constructing any structure along the river.

"Latest by Friday, our men would be moved here to demolish the structure which is being constructed close to the river," he said.

Mr Donkor said the activities by the private developers could impede the free flow of the river and caused flooding.

The Executive Director of GKP Real Estate, Nana Sam K. Gyasi who is a civil engineer and has an office along the Hebron-Dobro section of the Accra-Nsawam Highway, said the dumping of sand on the road "need government solution."

He said the construction of the drain should be borne by the government and not property owners in the area.

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