Bilinsa (U/E) Oct. 6, GNA – The youth of Bilinsa, a community in the Builsa North District of the Upper East Region has filled pot-holes on the Chuchuliga- Sandema link road, which passes through their electoral area.
The youth, who numbered about 70, divided themselves along the road, and with wheelbarrows, hoes and shovels, they fetched sand and gravel along the sides of the road to fill the many pot-holes, which had over the years caused accidents, especially on Sandema market days.
Mr Clifford Apag-yarik, Assembly member for the Bilinsa Electoral area, who led the youth to embark on the exercise, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that members of the community took it upon themselves to fill the pot-holes to reduce the rate of accidents in the area.
He said the Chuchuliga-Sandema road had been given out on contract and “They are doing their part, they have done the culverts along the road, but if you look at the stretch between Navrongo and Sandema which is within my electoral area, there are a lot of pot holes.”
He said the initiative to patch them was part of their contribution to the development of the community, “Government alone cannot do it, we are also stakeholders in development and we are using this exercise to create awareness on the urgent need for this road to be repaired.”
Mr Apag-yarik said the electorates were tired of the promises made by politicians to have the Chuchuliga-Sandema road fixed to reduce the spate of accidents and robbery attacks on the road mostly on market days.
“Portions of a culvert on the road are gradually eroding away, the erosion started from under the culvert and is not so visible, but with time it can collapse”.
He appealed for immediate action to be taken on the road to curtail any possible collapse, and called on the District roads engineer to pay attention to that culvert.
Mr Norbert Amwatigsi, a Unit Committee Member of the community, said “The nature of the road is very bad, accidents occur here daily, and so we the youth decided that we will not fold our hands and wait for government. This is the little we can do on our own to support while we wait for government to do its part.”
“In fact we need the government to come to our aid, people are dying here seriously, so this is why we came out to get some gravel to fill the pot-holes to at least reduce the rate of accidents.”
Mr Samuel Adawinsa, a resident of Bilinsa expressed concern about the nature of the road, especially the culvert, saying “if this culvert collapses, there will be a disconnection between Navrongo and Sandema which means businesses will be affected.”
He said Bilinsa was a farming community, and farmers in the area used that portion of the road to their farms, insisting that the culvert needed to be repaired as soon as possible for major activities to go on in the Builsa North District.
GNA