Bangorain, 20 juillet 2023 (CAPnews) – It is 3:30 PM and the sun is at its peak. Passengers alight from their vehicles to walk a distance because the state of the road does not permit the driver to drive through. About eight heavy trucks are stuck in the mud, and drivers and inhabitants from nearby villages are struggling to fill the road with stones and soil so they can drive through. However, their efforts are in vain. In despair, many have taken up residence under their trucks. Muslims are spotted in between the trapped vehicles praying despite the flurry of activities going on. The affluence along that part of the road has increased as the passengers walk back and forth through knee-deep puddles of mud from vehicles on one part of the muddy stretch of the road to the other. Fatigue and frustration are visible on their faces as they struggle to cross over and walk past the frustrated drivers and villagers struggling to make the stretch of road accessible.
« We have been stuck here for several days and can’t move. This road is at its worst due to the heavy downpour this area has experienced in the last couple of days », laments a frustrated lorry driver to his colleague, a bus driver.
The deplorable state of this stretch of road through Bangorain in the Noun Division of the West Region has been aggravated by the recent increase of the traffic on the unpaved road which links the North-West Region to the West Region. The reason is that the main road that links Babessi in the Ngo-Ketunjia division of the North-West Region to Bamenda, the chief town of the North-West Region has been blocked for some weeks now by self-styled separatist fighters for reasons unknown to the public. Vehicles now leaving areas from the Ngo-Ketunjia Division and those beyond are forced to take a roundabout way through the Noun Division to make their way back to the North-West Region. The public transport buses and other heavy-duty trucks all go through Bangourain, Foumbam, Bafoussam, and on to Bamenda in the North-West Region. This affluence and the weight of the heavy-duty trucks have only made the road more deplorable and impassable to the frustration of many drivers and travellers.
« There are so many control checkpoints on this road. They are keen on collecting money, but no one cares about the state of the road », decries another driver who just went through a checkpoint.
Drivers and the passengers are suffered
The consequences of the deplorable stretch of road are suffered by both the drivers and the passengers. The passengers are struggling to raise the transport fare which has increased by 50 per cent while the drivers now need to check and repair their vehicles more often after plying this road.
The disgruntled road users are both pleading with the authorities to prioritize this stretch of road and come to their aid by maintaining the poorly constructed roads or paving them to ease the plight of the road users who use these departmental roads that link those living in these mainly agricultural areas to main markets in the areas concerned.
