By Amadou M Jadama
The residents of Tanji Lamsar, Newtown and Sanchaba have expressed concern over the deplorable condition of their road, calling on the Barrow-led government to intervene as a matter of urgency and construct a better road for them.
The residents said the bad state of the three-kilometre road is affecting them on a daily basis.
The villagers were speaking recently while embarking on a rehabilitation exercise of the road that connects the village to the main highway.
Speaking to journalists, Lamin Jatta, a member of the Council of Elders for Tanji Lamsar, said: “We are suffering at this moment due to the bad condition of the road. This situation, couple with heavy downpour, is making it impassable for vehicles.”
Mr Jatta added: “The most disheartening thing is when someone is sick or even a woman is in labour, when we call a driver to come the person would refuse because of the condition of the road.”
According to him some of the drivers have already stopped coming to their village. “This disturbing situation we are in motivated us to embarking on this rehabilitation exercise.” He urged the government and NGOs to intervene and help them get a better road.
“We don’t have the capacity to build the road for our community. We are poor farmers who do everything to maintain the survival of our families,” he added.
According to Jatta, they hired four trucks and each truck they paid D500 for each trip, which increases huge burden on them. He added that almost 4 years they are embarking on this exercise. “The condition is getting worse; even to have access to the Tanji fish landing site sometimes is difficult.”
