A 20-kilometer road that links Ho, the capital city of the Volta Region to Caltech Ventures, a major beneficiary of government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) program has been abondoned.
Apart from the ethanol production factory which sits on a 2,500 hectare land, the Road serves about 21,000 residents stretching from Ho Volta Military Barracks through Kpenoe, Takla, Hordzo and Tokokoe.
The area is largely a bread basket of the Ho Municipality as most of its residents are farmers who cultivate cassava, maize, rice among others. Yet the roads have been abondoned for decades.
Jacob Mawuli Klu, a youth leader who corroborated the claim said “Since time immemorial, which is over a century when our forefathers migrated here, there has never been any major improvement on the road that connects us to the regional capital, Ho and for years now, it has been almost impassable.”
“We have been neglected, just promises over empty promises that the road has been awarded and the contractor will commence work next week,”
After several years of unfulfilled promises a contract was awarded to Vellim Ventures in late 2016, yet the pace have been very slow; making the uncompleted and abondoned road unmotorable especially during the rainy season. In the dry season it becomes dusty and leads to respiratory infections for residents.
Residents who want to access the regional capital for business, health and other purposes must also endure the uncomfortable movement of vehicles and body pains.
Mr. Klu did not understand why the road will be constructed in a piece meal manner; leaving drains, culvets and prima coat partially done and abondoned.
A situation which further destroyed the work done and increases the cost of construction at the expense of the tax payer.
The youth leader said although they were told Vellim Ventures was in-charge of the project, they had seen about five different contractors working on the road in the last five years.
A fifth contractor left the site in March this year due to a lack of funds. Same excuse was given by the four contractors who had earlier worked on the road.
He was surprised at the turn of events because the contractor had done a good job at another project. ” Our investigations revealed that the same contractor was awarded Akwete-Adaklu road and as we speak, the Akwete-Adaklu Waya road is completed, yet Ho-Hodzo still remains uncompleted and cynically ignored,” he wondered.
He added that “We were thinking this road will be a special road for this government because the Caltech Ventures was named as a factory under one district one factory yet the road that connects the factory to the regional capital is unmotorable.”
The Paramount Chief of Kpenoe Traditional Area, Togbe Kotoku XI who spoke on behave of his colleague chiefs, expressed dissappointment in the government and the contractor.
He said the nature of the road affects the health of vehicles that ply the route, thereby leading to high cost of transportation, food items and other wares.
In a recent protest on the said road, residents have given the government till the end of the June 2021 or expect series of protests including permanent blockage of the road.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)