The Vice Chairman of an Accra based Non-Governmental Organization, the Association for the Empowerment of Disabled Persons (AEDP), Anthony Adarkwa Yiadom has commended government for providing a tunnel that can be easily accessed by the disabled at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange.
Speaking to the DAILY HERITAGE in an interview, Mr Yiadom said though previous road constructions in the country did not factor the disabled into the construction facilities such as zebra crossings, walkovers, pavements and traffic islands, the Circle interchange has taken care of the needs of the disabled.
The chairman commended Quiroz Galvao (the Brazilian contractors) for the provision of the tunnel under the dual carriageway from Kwame Nkrumah Circle to Accra which will go a long way to serve its desired purpose of assisting the disabled.
With the facility in place, the disabled with clutches, walking sticks and wheel chairs can walk in the tunnel without any assistance.
He cited the George Walker Bush Highway-Mallam stretch, Tetteh Quarshie Interchange-Adenta dual carriage way, Obetsebi Lamptey Circle-Mallam dual carriageway as some of the numerous roads that were designed without factoring in the needs of the disabled.
He mentioned that on these roads, crossing is very difficult because of dense population and lamented that all efforts to get the situation solved have proved futile as successive governments have failed to listen to their plea.
He charged the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to decongest the already occupied tunnel before it comes into operation, else pedestrians will find it difficult and the facility will not serve its desired purpose.
On his part, the president of the association, Nana Antwi told the paper that the association which has been the mouthpiece of the umbrella association will always fight for the disabled.
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