Sierra Leone News: Bad roads and tolls cost us all

Sports

The high prices of food commodities in Sierra Leone, doesn’t mean that farmers and retailers are actually reaping a windfall. However, bad roads in some rural agricultural communities had been proffered as the key reason for cut throat transport fares which subsequently had a dominos economic effect on escalating food prices. “In Koinadugu, access to some rural communities is a Herculean task,” said Motors Drivers Union District Secretary, Sandy Samura. At times, it takes people two or more days to reach their destination,” he explained. Transport fares are inflated by either 10 or 20% because of bad road networks. “Places where people should pay Le40,000 they had to pay Le50,000 or Le60,000,” he pointed out. The additional costs of transporting goods through the Toll Road gates has also added to the cost of almost everything in the market, on the street and in the shops. The toll amounts are just added to the cost of the items, which results in consumers paying more for everything. Samura also noted that stabilization in fuel prices is also key in harmonizing transportation prices in the region. Drops in fuel prices have a dramatic impact on the transportation sector. With fuel costs down, transport owners and consumers would be able to save money and this would impact positively on the economy, he explained. Mariama Jalloh is a business woman. She explained that access to the villages and some district headquarter towns is really difficult especially during the rains. “The roads are muddy and at times vehicles get stuck and we had to come down while the driver struggles to remove it from the mud.” She noted that added to this ordeal is the increase transport fare by commercial vehicle owners. Commercial vehicle driver, Osman explained that because the roads to some of these villages are bad they have to be very careful the way they drive. They need to spend more time to cover a distance which would have taken less time if the roads were good. He noted that in order to compensate for the time they are spending in one trip they have to inflate the transport fare a bit so that they won’t run at a loss. OG/20/9/17 By Ophaniel Gooding Thursday September 21, 2017.

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