Gbarnga, Bong County – Deplorable roads is a major problem facing Liberia and this is why the construction of the Monrovia-Ganta highway funded by the World Bank through the Liberia Reconstruction Trust Fund (LRTF), a multi-donor trust fund for infrastructure came as a great relief to the population.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
“It is a national concern now. Every month we have accidents on this highway. We are calling on the government to intervene and have workshops for us. I believe by holding these workshops would help the drivers to understand and know when and how to limit their speed”- George Johnson Flomo, head of the Federation of Road Transport Union, Bong County Chapter
The highway is the main route leading to more than half of the fifteen counties of Liberia and is a key linkage for easy access resulting to improvement in commercial activities.
Construction of the road was carried out with support from contributions from the European Union, and the Governments of Great Britain (DFID), Sweden (Sida), Ireland (Irish Aid), Norway and Germany (KfW) and the World Bank.
Administered by the World Bank, the LRFT has raised millions for infrastructural projects in Liberia which has seen the construction of the Monrovia-Buchanan Road and several roads in Monrovia and other parts of the country.
During the official dedication of the road, Liberians were happy to now have easy means of travels between Ganta and Monrovia with vehicles now taking less than two hours and thirty minutes on a road that would normally cost five to six hours during the rainy season.Â
But that joy is now turning to what some are considering tears as on a daily basis accidents on the highway is causing deaths and destruction of properties.
At least 53 persons have been killed in different auto accidents on the busy Monrovia-Ganta highway between January and July 2016.
The death toll on this highway has risen unprecedentedly since the rehabilitation of the road began three year ago. “This is just outrageous and totally unacceptable” says Bong County Superintendent Selena Polson-Mappy.
The statistics were obtained from only the cases reported and confirmed by the Federation of Road Transport Union in Bong and Nimba Counties, the traffic departments of the Bong and Nimba Counties Police Detachments and other agencies.
Within the period, over 100 persons sustained varying degrees of injury from the accidents on same road. The Federation of Road Transport Union in Margibi County, which monitors accidents in the Margibi and Weala regions of the highway, did not release its statistics for the period when it was contacted.
However, records obtained from the Liberia National Police Margibi branch traced 21 crashes occurred on the Margibi end of the highway in seven months. Of the number, 13 people were said to have died, while 52 persons were injured.
Just last week, a truck had skidded off the road on a notorious highway for death – Gbarko hill – conveying marketers at the Bong end of the highway, during which nine traders died.
It was reported that the driver of the truck fled the scene of the accident while pepper splashed on the road with traders struggling to come out of the wreckage.
New accidents daily
On Tuesday July 12, two passengers were crushed to death while 13 others were critically injured at the Ganta end of the highway in an accident involving a truck and a commercial bus.
The accident, which occurred around 1pm, was caused by the taxi head-on collision with the stationary truck. A nursing mother and her one child were among the dead.
February 5, three passengers escaped death at the Gbartala end of the highway after a truck rammed into a Toyota car. The crash, which occurred at an intersection on the highway, had left the car mangled.
In the same February, four male passengers died at the Palala section of the road after a truck conveying them crashed. In the accident, over 10 people sustained varying degrees of injuries, while two rams were also killed.
On March 17, five persons were crushed to death at the Totota section of the highway after a bus collided with a truck. The accident, which occurred at about 2pm, was said to have been caused by the bus driver, who drove against the traffic, leading to a collision with the truck.
The Bong County Police Detachment that confirmed the deaths had said the charred remains of the deceased were removed from the scene.
On June 19, at Gbarko hill end, a fully-loaded commercial bus and a fuel tanker had a head-on collision in which five people lost their lives.
George Johnson Flomo, head of the FRTU Bong County Chapter told FPA that the number of accidents on the highway is now a matter of national concern.
“It is a national concern now. Every month we have accidents on this highway. We are calling on the government to intervene and have workshop for us. I believe by holding these workshops would help the drivers to understand and know when and how to limit their speed”, said Flomo.
Frederick Nappy, Bong Police Commander attributed the accidents to reckless driving, adding that some failed portions on the highway also contributed to the accidents.
He said: “Indiscipline is the major cause of most of the accidents. For instance, between the Salala and Totota end of the highway, drivers speed because construction work had just been concluded on portion of the road and the road is smooth. The same is applicable between Ganta and Gbarnga highway”.
“There are also failed portions in some parts. If any vehicle runs into some of the bad portions at full speed, it would veer off the road and the vehicle would end up in the bush. We wrote a report on the various failed portions on the expressway and that informed the ongoing construction works which will cover several kilometers”, the police officer told FPA.
He continued “However, we noticed that where there is a diversion on the road due to the ongoing construction works, drivers tend to be involved in dangerous overtaking. They turn the road to a race track. Many times, we noticed that the head-on collisions were caused by poor judgments on the part of the drivers.”
The Monrovia-Ganta highway was contracted to two companies- China Chongqing International Construction Corporation (CICO) and China Henan International Cooperation Group Co., Ltd (CHICO).
Divided into two sections Red Light to Gbarnga in Bong County is listed OPRC LOT 1 and is contracted to CICO with the project costing a little over $166 million, while the second segment Gbarnga to Ganta and Guinea Border is known as OPRC LOT 2 and is contracted to another Chinese Contractor-CHICO at a project cost of $70,934.18.