A heavy rainfall on Saturday, August 31, 2024, has washed away a culvert constructed under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project at Zingu, a community under the Wa Municiplaity.
The culvert, which sought to bridge the valley that cuts the Zingu community from Wa, formed part of a GH₵1.2 million Zingu-Wa road project executed by Licos Enterprise.
The aggrieved chief and people of the community expressed concern that the state of the culvert which has left road users in despair.
Mr Nuhu Abdul-Wahab, the Assembly Member of the Zingu Electoral Area, said he reported the issue to the Wa Municipal Assembly and the SOCO secretariat in Wa but no action had been taken yet.
Naa Nuhu Yuoni, the Chief of Zingu speaking to Info Radio at the community said: “If they cannot construct a standard culvert for us then they should fill the valley to its original status.”
“Instead of building at least two big culverts to contain the magnitude of water passing there, they put up a small culvert.
What they have done there cannot help us because where they dug to fix the culvert is the part that has cut off”, he added.
The chief lamented that the culvert's failure has hindered access to critical health, social services, and the market at Wa for the people in Zingu and neighboring communities including Charile, Asse and Duosi.
Naa Yuoni said the community members had anticipated the impending disaster on the culvert and boycotted a planned commissioning of the project about three months ago, describing the work on the culvert as "sub-standard."
He said a culvert constructed by the community through communal labour about two years ago at that same spot was still intact while the one constructed under the SOCO project could not last for three months.
“Before they started the project we were told they would work on the Wa-Zingu road and the bridge but that was not what they did.
They called us to commission the bridge, but we did not agree because what they said they would do was not what they did”, Naa Yuoni indicated.
He alleged that the community ceased a native’s farmland for the contractor to access gravels to execute the contract but that the contractor rather carted the gravels to sell under the guise of the SOCO project without working on the road.
Mr Seidu Kunleopie, a resident, told Info Radio that the contractor had caused more damage to the road than fixing it and urged the Wa Municipal Assembly to take urgent steps to maintain the road.
Madam Jaharata Mahama, also a resident, said she participated in the meetings regarding the SOCO project in the community but that none of the project specifications as discussed during the meetings had been complied with.
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