Mantukwa(W/R), June 30, GNA-The Odikro of Mantukwa, a cocoa farming community in the Northern part of Aiyinasi in the Ellembelle District, Nana Moro Anoma, has expressed much anxiety over the deplorable nature of the feeder road from Mangoase to Mantukwa.
He said the bad nature of the road network threatened the social and economic life of people in the cocoa-growing areas.
Odikro Anoma expressed these sentiments to the Ghana News Agency when the Communication Team of the Nzema Koyele Eku called on him at his palace during a visit to the Nzema area.
The three-day tour afforded the Koyele Communication Team the opportunity to assess developmental challenges in the three Districts of the area and bring them to the attention of duty bearers for redress.
Nana Anoma was worried that the inaccessible state of the road network in the cocoa growing areas was affecting the movement of goods and services.
Of much concern to him, was the chunk of cocoa beans which had decomposed due to the inability of farmers to cart their produce from the farms to the Produce Buying Center (PBC) at Aiyinasi.
The Chief commended the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah who engineered the construction of the road from Aiyinasi to Mantukwa through to Prestea and the asphalt from Aiyinasi to Mangoase.
Nana Moro, however, appealed to the contractor, K.P.S. Resource Limited at Bibiani to return to the site for completion of that stretch of the road.
Speaking to Ghana News Agency in an interview, the Western Regional Roads Engineer, Mr Bio Mekaino, explained that the Bitumen Surfacing of the 58-Kilometer Basake to Prestea-Nkwanta stretch had been awarded on contract to three different contractors.
He said the Santaso-Basake 20-Kilometer stretch had been awarded to K.P.S. Resources Limited, a construction firm at Bibiani.
The 20-Kilometer Santaso Junction to Kwasikrom road has been awarded to Memphis Metropolitan Construction Ltd, while the 18-Kilometer Kwasikrom to Prestea Junction route has also been awarded to Kingsfork Construction Ltd.
Mr Meikano said the contractors started the road rehabilitation and asphaltic construction works in 2021 and are expected to complete the project in 2022 but attributed the delay to the recent downpours.
The Western Regional Roads Engineer assured the public that the project was expected to be completed in 2023.
The project is being funded by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) under the supervision of the Department of Feeder Roads in the Western Region.
GNA