The residents had for several months complained about the lack of an approved route from the area to the Motorway, making it extremely difficult for them to commute from their homes to the Central Business District and other parts of the capital.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rUq97yhQCL9l7dM7jYv9VEn59QXXcFfH”]The only alternatives involve enduring hours of frustrating vehicular traffic through the East Legon tunnel or the road in front of Emmanuel Eye clinic.

But the Highways Authority in response to a petition from the residents of Trasacco Valley on the matter, have granted them temporary access to the Motorway which is to make their movement relatively easier and faster.

The swift response follows an intervention by the Citi Breakfast Show team, which recently tackled the issue widely from all angles on the show.

As part of the access route, the Ghana Highway Authority has since mounted a toll barrier to ensure easy entry and exit from the community.

The Officer in Charge of Operations for West Trasacco Residents Association, Lloyd Ashley, told Citi News that the residents will ensure that the temporary access is made permanent for the area.

“If you look at the network of roads within the environs, it can’t contain the traffic within the environs, that is why we were pleading for Urban Roads and Highways to open a route like this, and see whether it can be made legalized, unlike the illegality that it was in the past. It has been considered, and today we are happy that it has been opened with a toll booth so that residents and other commuters on this part of the road will pay before having access to the motorway,” he said.

“It is temporary, but with the engineer and the community, we are coming together to make it more accessible, redesign the whole thing to make the motorway safer and permanent,” he added.

While commending government for addressing their problem swiftly, Lloyd Ashley said the long-term plan is also to help motorists driving from Tema to Accra to easily exit the motorway at the new access route.

Drivers of salon cars will pay 50 pesewas, while drivers of SUVs pay GH¢ 1.00 to use the access route.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t grants Trasacco Valley residents ‘paid access’ to Motorway appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The residents have stated that they are ready to contribute towards the construction of an approved stretch from their areas to the Motorway.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WZvI3EWZ7HTGdY7fILaH5HA1XA6NJscY”]They lament that the non-existence of an approved route from the area to the Motorway makes it extremely difficult to for them to commute from their homes to the Central Business District.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the lead petitioner, Priscilla Ashiam said they [Trasacco residents] are also ready to pay tolls once a route is constructed.

An unapproved stretch was created to enable the residents to link directly with the Motorway but that has been blocked, with the Roads Ministry describing it as illegal.

Priscilla Ashiam said they were told that the route was blocked because they were accessing the route without paying some monies to the state.

“When we heard the import of the issue, the matter was we were evading taxes and revenue. We are more than willing to pay and even pay a premium to get onto the Motorway,” she said.

She lamented that she doesn’t see the need for residents to waste productive time in traffic while there is an access route which is properly supervised.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, Anthony Karbo has welcomed the initiative by the community to pay to have access to the motorway through the already existing route.

He said the government was aware of the situation and is working to have it addressed as soon as possible.

“Those problems currently exist and we are working on it, first of all, if you look at the Trasacco end of the road, those who live in that area trying to get onto the motorway. You would have observed that the community is growing along the Motorway, and therefore there is the need for the entire redesign work to kick into accounts. How to get those people to pay tolls in order to join the Motorway, but doing so in a way that it doesn’t pose any safety situation [is the issue].” the deputy minister said.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Trasacco residents offer to pay for direct route to Motorway appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the government will encourage communities that come together and mobilize resources for the development of their local roads.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SJykFd2nhrNVXNwddMz9O5b7tWikLIEU”]Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Anthony Karbo said, “the real challenges we have had in this country, is that people feel like we are paying for bad roads, because everyone is whining. The motorway is deteriorating yet we are paying tolls, so to even discuss with the citizenry about this issue is a tricky situation. But I think that we have gotten to a point where we have to open up, have a national discussion about road financing going forward especially for major roads that we know that the volume of traffic and the number of tolls people can pay over a period can service the road and there will be regular maintenance, because it is a road that everybody is paying for.”

His comment comes on the back of a petition by the residents of Trassaco Valley in Accra asking the Roads Ministry to grant them tolled access to the Tema Motorway to avoid the frustrating traffic on other alternative routes leading to the Central Business District.

Their petition also touched on the bad nature of roads within the area.

But Anthony Karbo said the Trasacco Valley situation was a general problem facing most communities in the country.

“The status of roads in Ghana has been nothing to write home about for the past eight years,” he remarked

He narrated that after a number of residents approached him to complain about their road, he had advised them to put their concerns into writing and address them to the right authority.

“Those problems currently exist and we are working on it, first of all, if you look at the Trasacco end of the road, those who live in that area trying to get onto the motorway. You would have observed that the community is growing along the Motorway, and therefore there is the need for the entire redesign work to kick into accounts. How to get those people to pay tolls in order to join the Motorway, but doing so in a way that it doesn’t pose any safety situation [is the issue].”the deputy minister said.

Meanwhile, the residents have said they are ready to are ready to pay any tolls to get direct access to the Motorway from the community.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t open to partnering citizens to finance road projects – Karbo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.