One of the two pontoons expected to convey vehicles and people across the Volta river has broken down.
The situation has created heavy vehicular traffic at both banks of the Volta River at Atimpoku and Akrade.
To reduce frustration among the people, the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) and other transport unions have come up with two offers to facilitate travelling from Ho in the Volta Region to the Eastern and the Greater regions.
The first offer is for travellers to use the old route via a pontoon at Akrade, while the second offer is for drivers to use a new route from Ho through Adidome, Sogakope and the Tema Roundabout to Accra.
In an interview on the new route, the Chairman of the GPRTU in Ho, Mr Michael Sonkro, said lorry fares on the Adidome route had gone up by GH¢2, explaining that the fare was fixed after consultation with passengers.
He said the fare from Ho to Accra through Adidome was now GH¢16, up from GH¢14.
Mr Sonkro, however, said the fare for travelling on the old route, which had now been diverted through Akrade, remained unchanged, despite the extra cost drivers incurred for using the services of the pontoon.
Security patrols
Mr Sonkro called on the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces to deploy a combined team of soldiers and police personnel to patrol the Adidome and Sogakope routes to ward off armed robbery activities, especially in the night, in view of the large tracts of isolated areas on the route.
He said because of the breakdown of the pontoon at the crossing at Atimpoku, the management had, in the interim, extended the time for closing its services from 6 p.m. to be able to ferry more passengers and vehicles across the river, adding that even with that measure, more people slept over on Monday to have their turn.
The pontoon ferries a maximum of 200 passengers per trip, together with 300 tonnes of cargo.
Source: Daily Graphic