By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The Drivers Union of Sierra Leone has rejected calls for drivers to use an alternative route in the course of a planned rehabilitation work on a major highway linking Freetown to the southern Bo District and eastern Kenema District.
The Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) announced on Wednesday that it intended to commence work to fix the damaged culvert on the Bo-Tiama Highway at Gbaima Songa, which collapsed about five months ago.
The Authority said its engineers would spend two days – January 31 and February 1 - to fix the culvert. It said that in the course of this period the road would be closed to the public, advising drivers to use the Njala-Sembehun via Mano Dasse route to get to Bo.
The Sierra Leone Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union (SLMDGTWU) said not only does the alternative route lengthens the journey, but that the road there is also in such a deplorable condition that they would be exposing their vehicles to mechanical damage if they use it.
“The road by Njala-Sembehun through Mano Dasse is too far and bad and since the roadblock is not going to last for long, we won’t go that way,” Alpha Bah, President of SLMDGTWU, told Politico.
The collapse of the culvert in September interrupted traffic on the road, leaving passengers stranded for hours, before SLRA officials rushed to temporarily fix it. The authority said the road collapsed following torrential rains in the district. And fears are that if it is not fixed before the rains it could further damage the road.
The Bo-Tiama Highway links Freetown to the south and eastern regions of the country. Blocking vehicular traffic is sure to disturb movement of goods and people on that route, which is said to be particularly busy on weekends when people travel back home to visit family.
Gbaima Songa is 15 miles away from the southern region headquarters town of Bo.
The Drivers Union president said they have agreed among themselves as drivers to maintain the same government designated transportation fares, but that vehicles from Freetown would stop at where the road work will be ongoing and then transfer passengers into waiting vehicles at the other end of the road to complete the journey to Bo.
“We are afraid of increasing the transportation fares because it would be difficult for us to bring it to the normal price, considering how some drivers behave when it comes to money,” said Bah.
The transportation fare from Freetown to Bo ranges from Le 35,000 to 40,000 per person. From Freetown to Kenema it is between Le45, 000 and Le50,000. Bah said drivers would be coming from the Freetown end would be required to pay the other drivers who would be coming from the Bo end Le10, 000 to complete the journey to Bo.
But there is likely to be problems in transferring passengers from one vehicle to another. The area is far off from the nearest community, like in the middle of nowhere, and therefore there is no guarantee that vehicles would always be available on the other end of the road.
Passengers might have to wait for hours to get vehicles, especially those travelling in the evening.
Whiles the work will be going on, hundreds of fans will be heading from Freetown to Kenema to watch a premier league match between Kamboi Eagles and East End Lions on the 1ST of February.
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