Government Urged to release funds for the construction of Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom Road Toende Students Union in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region have called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to as a matter of urgency release funds to enable the Brazilian Construction company, Queirioz Galvao, working on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road move back to site. 

According to the leadership of the union, the abrupt withdrawal of Queiroz Galvao from the ongoing construction of the road is due to the government’s inability to release funds for the construction of the road. The situation they described as unacceptable. 

The students union registered their displeasure at a news conference organized by the Toende Students Union in Zebila. 

Toende Students Union is a non-political and non-profit association of students and the elite of Bawku West District that advocates, promotes and campaigns to cause political, social, economic, academic, environmental and cultural change. 

The Bolgatanga- Bawku-Pulmakom road is about 113 kilometers which was awarded on contract in 2016 by the Mahana led administration to a Brazilian Construction company, Queirioz Galvao.  

Out of the 113 kilometers stretch of the road, 13 kilometers was awarded to MAWUMS construction limited. 

The road is an international highway that links the Northern part of the country to its neighboring ECOWAS countries. The road is one of the most important roads in the country given it economy viability and the number of lives that depends on it for survival. 

Speaking to Radio Ghana’s Samuel Ayammah in Zebila, the President of the Toende Students Union, Bismark Aruk, said the progressive development of towns and communities such as Zuarungu, Kongo, Nangodi, Tilli, Zebilla, Bazua, Binduri, Bawku cannot be mentioned without the role the road has played to that effect. 

He said the construction of the road brought a good number of employments to residents and people within and outside the Kusaug kingdom as it employed over 500 workers. 

Mr. Aruk said the nature of the road makes the whole atmosphere dusty when vehicles pass by and this makes travelers and residents along the road prone to infections and other health complicated issues. 

He noted that due to the bad nature of the road, armed robbers take advantage of it to attack travelers especially on areas where vehicles move slowly. 

He stated that emergency cases in hospitals or clinics referred from towns and communities that use the road to the regional hospital usually get complicated due to the potty nature of the road.  Accidents on the road have become common due to the dusty nature of the road. 

This, according to Mr. Aruk, mostly happens when one vehicle is to overtake the other. Recently, a head-on collision between a private car and a passenger bus on the road immediately after Kongo going to Bolga led to loss of lives and travelers incurring severe injuries.  

The President of the students union said the challenges in which the nature of the road poses on the people along it puts a lot of fears in their heart as they cannot fathom their fate as citizens of the country. 

Precious lives are lost, their health as they travel back to school is at risk, travelers are scared and economic activities have slowed down, vehicles break down every hour travelers spend several hours on a journey that is supposed to be just an hour.  

According to the leadership, when the union paid a visit to the Queiroz Galvao construction limited office at Binduri, they were told that work has halted due to government inability to release funds. 

They added that the company will abandon the project if government refuses to release funds by the end of January, 2018. 

The students Union, therefore, appealed to government through the Ministry of Roads and Highways to as a matter of urgency release funds to enable the contractor fix the road on schedule. 


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