Residents of Battor, the capital of the North Tongu District in the Volta Region, hit the streets today [Wednesday] to protest and demand the construction of roads in the area.
Residents say the roads are in a deplorable state and become unmotorable after heavy rains. They say the situation is affecting education and businesses in the area.
Addressing the media during the demonstration, Convener of the Concerned Youth of Battor [the group that led the demonstration] Amegbanu Wisdom, said motorist, as well as commuters, struggle to ply the roads, especially during the rainy season.
“Today we have taken a bold step towards becoming active citizens of this town of ours. Battor township link roads have become so bad over the years that commuters, students and workers find it difficult to use them for their daily activities especially when it rains. The few cases of heavy rains this year have rendered the roads worse, if not unmotorable.”
He lamented that several efforts to get the District Assembly to fix the roads had also proved futile.
“The district assembly has over the years turned a blind eye on the deteriorating situation at Bator where its headquarters is situated. On 5th May 2017, the Concerned Youth of Battor wrote to the district assembly to as a matter of urgency to fix the roads because pupils could not go to school as a result of bad link roads. Children could easily get drowned in ponds that have developed on the main road leading to the Battor Senior high school and other schools in the area. The situation is affecting businesses in the town as guest houses located in these areas are losing customers due to the nature of the roads. Meanwhile, Battor generates the highest revenue for the assembly and the assembly could easily construct the roads,” Amegbanu Wisdom added.
Mr. Amegbanu also said efforts to petition the Member of Parliament of the area, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and the Paramount Chief to intervene have also not yielded any positive results.
The group is however calling on authorities to as a matter of urgency step in to quickly resolve their grievances.
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By: King Norbert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana