Regional News of Friday, 1 April 2016

Source: ultimate1069.com

KNUST students cry over bad roads

A road leading to the KNUST campus A road leading to the KNUST campus

Students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) are unhappy due to the bad nature of roads linking their hostels and its environs.

The stretch of road which links Ayeduase, Kotei and New site all suburbs of Kumasi has been left unattended for years, making it unbearable for students who ply that route daily for lectures.

As a result of this, the cost of living has increased for the students since they have to pay extra money in order to get taxis to hostels in the area.

They complained that armed robbers and thieves have taken advantage of the situation and have been terrorising them on their way to and from lectures.

Some students that spoke with Ultimate news explained “to my hostel the road is fairly ok, to a point it’s tarred and to a point it’s a rough road, if you take a cab to that area you will be charged more because they will complain their cars will get spoiled”.

‘It’s very bad, gullies everywhere. Even taxies have a name for it, is it shock spoiler or something like that. I once heard there was a robbery somewhere but the police were not able to get to the place on time’.

However, the KNUST Hostel Owners Association also expressed worry about the nature of the road.

In an interview with Ultimate news’ the Secretary for the Association, Mr. Alex revealed that the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and Urban Roads are responsible for the construction of the roads.

He explained that though the hostel managers pay taxes the road has been in deplorable state.

“The hostel managers are paying taxes to the authorities concerned but to construct roads I think you know it is the core duty of a hostel manager,” he stated.

Meanwhile the Ashanti Regional Office of the Urban Roads Department suggested that fixing of the roads should be a shared responsibility between Urban Roads and the hostel owners.

The Regional Manager for Urban Roads Theodore Quaye assured that his outfit will move in to assess the roads for possible works to begin.