“The project has come to a halt and we are calling on the road authorities to help us complete this drainage as that will help solve the flooding that has been destroying properties here. This is a major road that will help ease traffic congestion from Spur Road to Regent Road at Lumley,” he said adding that the construction was not budgeted for before the road was cut out and that the community was not engaged before it was done.
The local administrator said people were asked to contribute to fund the project but only a few cooperated with them and now the community was facing difficulties to complete the drainage construction.
Community chairman, Peter Kamara, told AYV that the road was cut out to make the community a better place, noting that it would be free from flooding that had destroyed property before.
He added: “The people were informed before the road was cut out. We had an engagement with the people. It was not just the decision of the youth to cut the road open,” he said, adding that the community had prominent names, who had houses there and used expensive cars, but were not helping to make the road that had gone bad.
He stated that the drainage construction was not just being done in their own interest, but in the interest of the whole community and most importantly for the safety of residents there.
“This is a community development project and not all projects government can fund. We should try and develop our community,” he said.
A mechanic and garage owner, Komba Gbetuwa, explained that since the road was cut open his customers had not been coming and that he had to go after his customers now to continue to stay in business.
He said if the youths knew that they were not well prepared and hadn’t enough materials to complete the project they shouldn’t have cut out the road, adding that for works like those they should have written a project proposal to generate the required funding before they set out.
“The road is a major road in the Lumley community and if they had forwarded a proposal to the government they could have looked into and help build the road that links the two major communities of Spur Road and Lumley,” he lamented.
A shop owner, Alhassan Jalloh, said he had been robbed by some people as a result of the road blockage. He said when the road was open bike ‘okada’ riders and cars where moving up all night but when that stopped thieves took advantage of the situation, adding that that was the reason he was robbed and had to start from scratch.
