A culvert at Zingu, a community in the Wa Municipality constructed under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project, has been washed away after a heavy downpour last month.

Following this, the chief and people of the community expressed concern that the state of the culvert had left users of that road in despair.

Mr Nuhu Abdul-Wahab, the Assembly Member of the Zingu Electoral Area, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the culvert, which sought to bridge the valley that had cut the Zingu community from Wa, formed part of a GH₵1.2 million Zingu-Wa road project executed by Licos Enterprise.

He said he had reported the issue to the Wa Municipal Assembly and the SOCO secretariat in Wa but no action had been taken yet.

In an interview with the GNA, Naa Nuhu Yuoni, the Chief of Zingu demanded that “If they cannot construct a standard culvert for us then they should fill the valley to its original status”.

He complained about the poor construction work done by the contractor, which failed to withstand the rains because the culvert’s placement was wrong and did not provide a bridge between the communities in the area.

He expressed further regret that the people in Zingu and adjourning communities including Charile, Asse and Duosi could still not access critical health, social services, and the market at Wa anytime it rained due to the broken culvert.

Naa Yuoni said the community members anticipated the impending disaster on the culvert and therefore, boycotted a planned commissioning of the project about three months ago describing 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 said the community ceased a native’s farmland for the contractor to fetch gravel to execute the contract, but it was alleged that the contractor carted the gravels to sell under the guise of the SOCO project without working on the road.

Mr Seidu Kunleopie, a resident, told the GNA 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 discussed during the meetings had been complied with.