July 15, 2015 By Regina Pratt
Residents in the Tengbeh Town community yesterday appealed to the government – through the Ministry of Transport and Aviation – to make available at least one of the 100 buses recently bought by the government to be routing the community.
Some 26,000,000 people are believed to be living in the community which lacks good roads and frequently experiences water shortage. Commercial transportation is a serious challenge for residents.
Head Teacher of the Church of Christ Primary School at Tengbeh Town, Bob Allen Shiaka, told Concord Times that the community is one of the most deprived in the west-end of the city. “The road is being used by commuters and vehicles plying the Wilberforce and Lumley routes whenever there is heavy traffic in town,” he said.
He claimed that the community has never benefitted from any development projects undertaken by the government and partners, which is why they are appealing to the government to include Tengbeh Town as one of the communities that would benefit from the bus shuttle service.
“We have many school going children in this community and the bus shuttle service will be of immense help to us as it would cut down on our daily transportation expenses,” he said.
Also, a trader, Sallay Conteh, stated that they leave the house as early as 5am in the morning in order to catch a ‘poda-poda’ to town to shop for her goods. “We are struggling in the morning for transport. It is only when we get up very early that we will have a chance of getting a vehicle to town,” Sallay said.
Pa James, and elderly resident, also shared the same concern, saying that the bus service is very important as most drivers sometimes refuse to take old people onboard their vehicles.