By Philip Tengzu
Varemperi (UW/R), July 15, GNA – A broken culvert along the Varemperi-Vieri-Wehiau road in the Wa West District, has cut off its immediate communities from accessing healthcare at the Vieri Health Centre, with pregnant women, children and the aged to bear the brunt.
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, July 13, 2025, has also prevented traders at Varemperi, Wa and beyond from accessing the market at Vieri through the Wa-Varemperi-Vieri stretch.
Currently, motorists from the Wa Municipality and beyond are forced to access Vieri and Wechiau, the Wa West District capital, through the Wa-Kpongu-Siiru-Vieri road.
However, if the broken bridge is not fixed immediately, no vehicle can access Vieri, nor people from these surrounding communities be able to access Wa through the Siiru route, as the Siiru dam often overflows its banks during the peak of the rainy season, rendering that road inaccessible.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Varemperi, Mr Fatawu Dong, a resident of Varemperi, said farmers at that community could not also access their farms located beyond that culvert.
He said likewise, teachers and other workers who commuted from Wa to work in the Vieri area could not also go to work, due to the collapsed culvert.
“This is the only road to our district capital. This is the road to Vieri where our Health Centre is. If anyone is referred from the CHPS Compound here now, the person must go to Wa, which is far from here,” he said.
“This is also the road to our farms, so that means we have been cut off from everything,” Mr Dong said.
Mr Annetus Tanzu Ziembo, the Assembly Member for the Vieri Electoral Area, said though the community members had created a temporary path to enable people to manoeuvre their way through to Vieri, it was not sustainable as that path would not be passable when it rained.
Mr Richard Wulo, the Wa West District Chief Executive (DCE), who visited the scene, had assured the people of finding an immediate remedy to the situation.
He said he had contacted the Department of Feeder Roads to fix the broken culvert as soon as practicable and expressed hope that a contractor would soon be on site to fix it.
The GNA also observed that two other culverts along the Varemperi-Vieri Road had been partially washed away by water and also required urgent attention to save them from collapsing.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali / Christabel Addo