Residents of Settlement unhappy with destruction of road

Residents of Settlement unhappy with destruction of road 

The residents of Settlement,suburb of Canteen in the West Gonja Municipal of the Savannah Region have expressed deep worry about the destruction of the road network leading to the community.

This they say was having a heavy toil on the community and putting the lives of motorists and pedestrians, especially women, farmers and the school going children at risk.

At a community durbur to review activities for last year 2021 and set community goals for the year 2022, the Assemblyman, Ananpansah Abraham said the extent of destruction of the road by tipper trucks and dozers used to convey gravel from the gravel pit in the area was disheartening.

He said he was brokenhearted to see the Canteen-to-Settlement road which hitherto was in very good shape and motorable, suddenly turn into a sandy and dusty path due to the gravel digging activities, which was posing economic and health risk to residents.

The situation he said, was likely to worsen during the raining season if something is not done urgently.

According to him,the community was currently not benefiting anything as a Corporate Social Responsibility from the activities of constructors and individuals who come to excavate gravel from the area, stressing that, "I daresy these people don't even pay revenue to the assembly for road maintenance and were acting in bad faith".

The Assemblyman said these constructors and individuals have failed in their several promises to reshape the road, after the several community complaints he laid to them and stakeholders on the need to maintain the very road they were plying with their heavy duty vehicles to harvest gravel from the area.

He appealed to the department of feeder roads and all the necessary stakeholders to come to the aid of the community, hinting that his office together with the community have resolved to present a letter to the Department of Feeder roads and all the concerned stakeholders reiterating the need to work on the road.

In the interim,he said there will be a community bye-law barring any individual or group of persons from excavating gravel from the area untill the road is reshaped.

He called on the community members to remain united in order to achieve the collective aspirations and wishes of the entire electoral area.

The community chief,Seidu Iddrisu appealed to government to intervene in reshaping the road wondering why those fetching gravel from area have turned death ears to the the several complaints of the community.

He said the community was unanimous in its decision to place a temporal ban on the fetching of gravel from the area until the road is reshaped, commending the Assemblyman for always responding promptly to the concerns of the community. 

Joseph Yidane,the community caretaker expressed fear for they the farmers ahead of the raining season with sudden state of the road.

He said the health and lives of the residents was at risk if nothing is done about the situation, stressing on the numerous times the community together with the Assemblyman have called on stakeholders and the individuals fetching gravel from the area to consider fixing the very road they had destroyed to no avail.

The women and youth present at the meeting  added their voice to the need to reshape the road, stating that in the event of an emergency it will be very difficult for an ambulance and other emergency Vans to get to the community.

They said they were contemplating a demonstration to register their displeasure over the destruction of the road network which use to be one of the best feeder road in the municipality if nothing is done about the situation.

Source: Ananpansah Bartholomew Abraham