Sunyani-Ntotroso road now a death-trap

The once nicely constructed road linking Sunyani to several communities such as Atronie, Ntotroso and Acherensua can best be described today as a death trap.

The 34-kilometre highway, which is the main road linking the Bono region and the Ahafo region vis-a-vis other parts of the country, is full of potholes and intense dust, thereby prolonging travel time and creating avoidable inconveniences for commuters.

In terms of people contracting various respiratory diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, etc due to the dusty nature of several portions of the road and joint pains because of the potholes, the least said about it, the better.

The rate at which vehicles break down on the road has also increased significantly due to the sorry state of the road, thereby discouraging a lot of commercial drivers from plying on the road.

Nobody cares
Despite the harm being caused by the current state of the road to commuters, nobody seems to care about the situation.

Armed robbers have taken advantage of the situation to carry out their operations on the road, especially in portions where there are no telecommunication networks.

While some people are looking up to the government to reconstruct the road as a matter of urgency, others are accusing Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Ahafo Mine) for looking unconcerned knowing very well that it has immensely contributed to the fast deterioration of this road.

The said road is used mainly by all kinds of vehicles that convey workers of the mining company and contractors working in the mine every single day - morning, afternoon, evening and during the night - thereby putting undue pressure on the road, which was tarred just about ten years ago.

A source at Newmont insisted that it was the responsibility of the government to reconstruct the road and that not the mining company.

According to the source, the government is supposed to use part of the taxes paid by Newmont to develop the company's catchment area, including the construction of roads.

Newmont's stance unfortunate
"The claim by Newmont that it pays tax to the government and so the government must use it to construct the road is quite unfortunate," Mr. Richard Adjei Poku, the Executive Director of Livelihood and Environment Ghana (LEG) told our reporter.

He condemned Newmont's stance on the matter, saying: "only 5% of the gross income of the mining company is paid to the government as royalties, and this cannot be enough to build road infrastructure."

According to him, the only area the government could get money from is the income tax, which is 35% of the company’s profit. "But it is regrettable to note that many of the companies do not declare profit. Those who declare are often scanty due to the alleged increment of operational cost.”

Mr. Adjei-Poku is of the view that government adds social development such as roads, water, market, schools and hospitals construction and rehabilitation to companies operating in those catchment areas to execute such projects.