DANGER! Western Corridor Road Damaged

THE Bibiani-Ahwiaso-Awaso road, a major artery in the western corridor network, commissioned barely three years ago, may not reach half of its designated life span due to the haulage of heavy cargo such as bauxite, timber and cocoa along the route.

The road, which according to engineering experts at the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) was to last 20 years, would become unmotorable by 2010 and will require about ¢200 billion to rehabilitate if the situation is not addressed.

This development prompted the Ministries of Transportation; Harbours and Railways to hold a meeting last November. Present at the meeting were representatives from the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRC); the Ghana Bauxite Company Limited (GBC) and two haulage companies.

Times learnt that at the meeting the GBC was directed to stop hauling its bauxite by road due to the devastating impact on the road.

However, Times investigations show that contrary to the directives, the company is still using the two haulage companies, Eastern Alloy Company Limited (EACO) and Excel Haulage Company Limited to transport bauxite to the Takoradi port for further export.

Even though the Times learnt that at the meeting, that GBC had agreed to desist from using the newly constructed route to haul bauxite, they resumed the practice two weeks after the meeting.

Until five years ago, the GBC was using the rail network, at Awaso, which has been in existence since colonial times, to transport the bauxite, when according to the management of the company it realised that GRC was unable to cart their estimated output of 900,000 tonnes.

Sources told the Times that GBC had refused to pay realistic tariffs to the GRC, which has also been facing extreme financial difficulties, to enable it render effective services to the GBC. Times learnt that GRC was demanding US $11.5 per tonne while the GBC pays US $14 to the two haulage companies for the same amount of bauxite that is transported.

The Times learnt that at the said meeting, a representative of GBC said it was not the intention of the company to destroy the country’s roads, particularly the Awaso-Bibiani road through its operations, saying that it was much cheaper to haul the bauxite by rail but expressed concern about GRC’s inability to haul the minimum tonnage.

He is reported to have said that the company started carting its bauxite by road 2002 but stopped and resumed in 2004. According to him, GRC could only cart 250,000 tonnes while the trucks carried 450,000 tonnes, but promised to cooperate with the Ministries to resolve the problem.

The recourse to a more expensive means of transporting the bauxite has led to wild speculation in official corridors that there were some GBC officials who have stakes in those companies.

Sources also told the Times that the trucks drivers were paid bonuses depending on the number of extra tonnage they carry, which apparently might be the cause of overloading.

When the Times visited the area last week there were huge potholes along portions of the road, some of which have so far been patched. Times also observed that the trucks from the haulage companies loaded with bauxite plied the route at night.

Apart from the damage of the road through overloading, other dangers presented by the hauling of bauxite on the roads are accidents, over speeding, environmental pollution and high demands of national fuel. Experts say it will require about ¢25 billion to rehabilitate a kilometre of the road if the deterioration does not stop.

GHA sources told the Times that donor partners such as the European Union (EU) and DANIDA have expressed misgivings about the impact of overloading of vehicles on the road and to curtail this situation, the EU went a step further to provide weighbridges which have been installed at strategic points on the roads to control axle loads.

Sources at the Bibiani District Assembly said over the past five years, GBC had paid only ¢150 million as royalties to the Bibiani District Assembly, 10 percent of which has to be paid to government. The source said the paltery sum paid by GBC cannot be used as a justification to destroy the road.

The situation has led the youth and some chiefs in the district to complain about the operations of GBC relating to the damage to the roads and the recklessness of drivers that has led to accidents on the road.

When contacted, Eric Oduro-Konadu, Chief Executive of GHA, said periodically the Authority undertakes axle load control exercises on the Bibiani-Awaso road in addition to the permanent weighbridge installed at Asuoyeboa-Kumasi.

He noted that it was during one of such spot check exercises on vehicles on the road during the latter part of last year, the team discovered several abuses of the roads.

Mr. Oduro-Konadu said during the exercise, it discovered that loading on axles on the road was as high as 24.3 tonnes instead of the legal and permissible limit of 11.5 tonnes. During the exercise, it was noted that EACO recorded maximum axle load of 24.3 tonnes, while EXCEL recorded 17.8 tonnes. EACO carries higher loads than EXCEL and the loads exceed the 100 tonne capacity of the weighbridge.

He mentioned that other overloaded haulage trucks plying the route are timber trucks with the highest axle tonnage of 21.8 on fourth axle and cocoa trucks four-six axles with the highest tonnage as 22.2 on second axle.

The Chief Executive mentioned that some of the problems being encountered by the Authority with as the refusal of drivers to stop at checkpoints for their vehicles to be weighed, using of alternate routes which have not been designed to carry such loads to avoid the checkpoints, and truckers taking advantage of the off-checking periods to embark on their journey.

Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister for Harbours and Railways, who expressed concern about the fast rate at which the road network was deteriorating, told the Times that it was good for the public to become aware of the extent at which the roads have been damaged through the transportation of bauxite by road.

He said it was unacceptable for government to allow roads that have been constructed through the assistance of donor partners to be destroyed in the name of economic activities particularly the haulage of bauxite by road.

He noted that the issue of rail tariffs had been a thorny one for years, noting that refusing to increase rail tariffs, the GBC also stopped talking to the Ministry when it decided to haul its bauxite by road.