National Road Authority Senior Feeder Roads Manager
By Buba Gagigo
Senor Feeder Roads Manager, National Road Authority (NRA), Bannie Taiwo Chapman told Kerr Fatou that it was the contractor who authorised the villagers to collect the loose basalt on the sides of the LOT 1 of the North Bank Roads in Sabach Sanjal.
“There has been a lot of commotion on social media. And it all had to do with the basalt that the people of the vicinity in which roads are located in and around Sabach Sanjal, and people were gathering the basalt for their personal uses. And for that reason, a press release was sent out for people to refrain, but that was not the problem.
“Because from my investigations, I figured that it was the contractor (ARESKY) who actually asked them (villagers) to take the material. But the manner in which these people were taking it out might have caused serious damages as they were using rakes and spades. So for that reason, we thought it wise to ask people to refrain and then spoke to the contractor to ensure that he finds a suitable location to dump this waste material,” Senor Feeder Roads Manager at NRA Bannie Taiwo Chapman told Kerr Fatou on Monday.
His response in an interview came after some locals in 3 villages by the new Sabach Sanjal Road network were seen collecting the loose basalt on the sides of the road on Saturday.
In the settlements, small heaps of basalt were spotted on either side of the road that were gathered by the locals for onward bagging and selling.
Also, multiple 50kg-bags filled with the stone flanged the pavement of the new road that stretches through the villages to Sara Kunda.
One of the locals told this medium that they use the loose material to fill in portholes in their settlements and sell a 50kg-bag of it to interested persons for D250.
“We gather it, take it home, and fill in portholes with it…We also sell it. A bag is sold for D250,” the young lady said.