By DANIELA NEBA NGUM
The little or no road maintenance work carried out in the municipality of Kumba this year has increased the challenges that comes with the rainy season in this part of the country.
Though no serious damages have been experienced in Kumba like in other towns of the South West Region since the start of the rainy season, movement and the smooth functioning of activities on the other hand have been affected as a result of the serious rains, coupled with the bad nature of roads in the town.
According to some inhabitants, the abandonment of some road projects within the municipalities for over two years could be held responsible for the bad nature of roads and the difficulties they face when it rains.
‘Our roads are really bad; during the dry season we battle with dust while during the rainy season we are unable to move because of mud and standing water. In September we are forced to carry our children on our backs to school’, a denizen noted.
Those in charge of road maintenance in the city of Kumba blamed the abandonment of most road projects to the crisis situation in the region. They noted that the prevailing insecurity situation in the town has made it difficult for most road projects to be executed.
This idea was however debunked by other inhabitants, who disclosed that most of their streets were abandoned before the crisis started.
‘They cannot put the blame on the crisis because this road and this culvert was awarded more than two years ago, they began the construction but later abandoned it and ever since then nothing has been done to remedy us from this situation’, an inhabitant noted.
In other to cope with the present situation, inhabitants have resorted to the purchase of rubber shoes and umbrellas. This comes a week after the 2ndDivisional Participatory Committee Meeting for the execution of Public Investment Projects in Meme Division for 2018 revealed that the execution of projects in most council areas still stands at 0%.
In Kumba Urban, only Kumba I has executed some projects, giving a percentage realization of 34.06%.
The statistics also revealed that some councils are yet to execute FCFA 27million road projects for 2017.