Salayea District, Lofa County – Bong and Lofa counties in the past months have witnessed several downpours and it has taken toll on roads and road users.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
Potholes have grown wider and traffic jams have worsened.
The advent of the rainy season has exposed the deplorable condition of many roads in these two counties. For many commuters, there couldn’t have been greater conspiracy between the rain and potholes to frustrate transportation.
Yearly, and especially before the rain comes, both the leaderships of Bong and Lofa make a show of rehabilitating failed sections of the Gbarnga-Menikoma road.
Unfortunately, the efforts are often not far reaching. No sooner does the rain come and the deplorable spots return to their pre-repaired condition.
Commercial bus operator, Michael Johnson, decried the potholes along the Gbarnga-Menikoma road.
“I wonder what is happening in Liberia,” he said.
“Every time you go out, you find potholes. I have stopped plying the road in the night in order to avoid accidents. The way potholes are on this road is not encouraging, yet nobody seems to be saying anything about it”.
“The absence of gutters on either side of the road causes flowing water to run on the road. This adds to the number of potholes and increases the size of existing ones. Recently, as it rained, my bus ran into a ditch and wouldn’t move again. We had to disembark and push it out”, Johnson said.
Before reaching Zorzor, what was left from years of neglect by government has taken a turn for the worst, as an entire stretch of the road has become flooded and impassable. With motorists forced to drive one way, the gridlock at peak periods is better imagined.
Residents and shop owners in Konia – along the Gbarnga-Menikoma road – are also having a hard time plying the road, as the rainy season has inadvertently compounded their woes. The road is very busy especially in the morning and evening peak periods.
A shop owner, Mrs. Deborah Mulbah, explained the trouble traders in the area face: “This is a major road. People who drive down this road should, ordinarily, see what we display. But that is not the case. “
“They are, instead, preoccupied with struggling to meander through the bad road. There are a lot of shops here but many of these have become vacant; no one is interested in them because of the road.
“We want the government to come to our aid. We have endured this problem for long. And whenever the rainy season comes, it becomes worse.”
“My husband often has to buy stones to fill up my section of the road, making it manageable. But then, we are still calling on the government to come to our aid. It is beyond what we can do on our own”, she appealed.
Another trader told FrontPageAfrica: “We have been suffering as a result of this road. The government merely promised that something would be done. People along the road have contributed money several times to fill the road with sand. This, however, does not always last.”
Continuing, the trader added: “We are not getting any funds from the government. This has been the sad story for a very long period of time. Commercial and private vehicles ply the road, likewise heavy duty trucks that damage the road even further.”
“Although this is detrimental to us, we cannot stop them from using the road. This is where our houses are built; we live here and should not have to go elsewhere.”
The Gbarnga-Menikoma road is fraught with notorious spots. With the rain, here, these failed sections are expected to spoil further. Places like Salayea, Konia and Zorzor are littered with potholes, making the road dangerous to travel.
“We don’t know what we have done to the government. We have been suffering. Some of us have not moved our cars out of this place for days because of the bad road”, Sumuowu Kezelee, a resident of Zorzor said.
The pains brought by the rain and potholes come as an unpleasant addition to the menace of tankers. It is no longer news that fuel tankers have taken over the highway causing unending gridlock.
According to Kezelee, “The activities of these tankers affect us in several ways. They affect people’s physical and emotional health.”
“Someone told me that his heart beats faster whenever he thinks of hitting the road. The congestion is horrible. You could remain on a spot for hours, arriving home completely tired. That is not to mention the risk of being attacked by robbers.”
At Konia, the road becomes flooded whenever rain falls, turning an entire section of the road into a river and frustrating traffic flow.”
“Also at Belefana in Bong County, the entire road becomes flooded when it rains. People living in the area say they have made repeated attempts to draw the attention of the government to their plight but without success.
According to the Commissioner of Zota district, Arthur Kpolun, “Government needs to be practical in getting relevant agencies to clear the canals. With the problem of flooding getting worse year after year, it will be good to build more canals and drainages in affected parts of the road.”