Consultant for the Four-Tier-Pokuase interchange, Kwabena Bempong, has revealed some miscreants are stealing crash barriers on the stretch.
According to him, some persons, pretending to be construction workers on the project commissioned on July 9, 2021, and valued at $94 million to ease vehicular traffic on the Accra to Nsawam highway, are those committing the acts.
On this backdrop, Adom News‘ Prince Owusu Asiedu toured some major roads in Accra to monitor the situation there as well.
These crash barriers and fences are made of metal to serve as a safety boundary for both pedestrians and drivers, however, the illegality of some citizens is making the road unsafe for users.
At the $260 million Nkrumah Circle Interchange, aka Dubai, which was constructed about seven years ago, the situation was nothing to write home about as most of the fences to safeguard pedestrians were nowhere to be found.
Apart from the vital service the thieves deny the pedestrians, the loss of the crash barriers also means the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars used to import the hard metals.
If the theft was restricted to only the Nkrumah Circle, the effect would be minimal but a further tour close to the Kaneshie ‘First Light’ Junction unearthed the same situation.
A close look at the metal poles suggested the barriers had been unscrewed and bolted away with from Kaneshie through Mallam to Kasoa in the Central Region.
Aside from the stolen barriers, the news team also observed that automobiles had rammed into many and mangled them, rendering them unsuitable for purpose.
At the Ablekuma suburb, the crash barriers were distorted and virtually rotting away.
The N1 Road section from the Tetteh Quashie Roundabout to Mallam Junction is an international highway built with US$165 million from Ghana’s share of the Millennium Challenge Account.
After the contractors had painstakingly built a metal median to get pedestrians to use overhead walkways to cross the road, the thieves struck there too.
The Lapaz section of the highway is among the areas almost totally robbed of the metal fences.
Similar destruction had gone on at such other areas of the capital as on the Madina – Adentan Highway.
The void left in the place where the crash barriers and the median fences once stood was just so obvious.
As if the Highways and Urban Roads authorities are helpless or unaware of the plunder, the destruction continues unabated.
To gauge the loss in terms of money, Adom TV inquired and learned a piece of the metals installed to prevent vehicles from accidentally skidding down from the flyovers costs $3,500.
Thousands have already been stolen at Kaneshie, Mallam, Ablekuma, Pokuase, Madina-Adenta, Nkrumah Circle and elsewhere!
Are duty-bearers unaware of the destruction? If they are aware, what are they doing to stem the tide?
Next in our series on Dangers on Accra Roads, we will look at death traps set on the walkways by thieves of culvert lids.
Till then, Adom News asks: When will the stealing of crush fences and median fenders be stopped to enhance road safety in Accra?
Watch the video attached for more: