The women of Raneru in the Sami District, Central River Region, have expressed gratitude for the road being constructed by the Ministry of Transport,Works and Infrastructure in their community.
Marie Ceesay, a beneficiary from Raneru village, informed the Honorable Minister Ebrima Sillah and delegation who are currently on a tour of ongoing projects nationwide that some women, especially pregnant women died while struggling to reach the nearest health facility in the district, due to lack of proper roads.
She said for decades, the past governments have been promising to come to their aid but none of that materialized.
“Many women have lost their lives and that of babies due to the bad road network. This community is not accessible during the rainy season because of the bad roads”, she said.
Marie Ceesay said the road infrastructure has brought a lot of opportunities as the contractor Cornerstone Construction Group equally came to their aid by constructing a new borehole for Raneru village.
“We used to trek around miles to fetch water with our donkeys as the village well which is about 35 meters deep, gets drained during the dry season,“ she stated.
On his part, Pa Jagne, a native of Tabanani village in Sami District, CRR also reiterated the importance of the road, while confirming that many have died along their way to connect to Bansang Hospital or Karantaba Health Center. He added that many women delivered along the road to the hospital due to the improper road network.
“During the rainy season, some have died on the road while others faced attacks by wild animals like hyenas,“ he remarked.
Explaining the vulnerability of his community, Pa Jagne, an NPP stalwart and a key member of the Barrow Media Empowerment group, said the village is in a danger zone with frequent attacks by criminals from Senegal.
“We are in the porous border area where criminals from Senegal come in and use their weapons to attack us and steal our cattle, donkeys and other livestocks always. We need the support of the government to provide us with a paramilitary camp,” he appealed.
The Minister Honourable Ebrima Sillah expressed satisfaction with the progress made. He thanked the National Roads Authority for supervising and guiding the contractor to ensure quality roads are maintained irrespective of the region and also encouraged the contractor to meet their corporate responsibilities within the communities.
The Lot 2 of the 50-kilometre (km) road construction is contracted to Cornerstone Company in Upper Saloum. The ongoing construction of Laminkoto, Banni, Yonna, and Kunting is an 11-kilometre road project. Karantaba, Raneru, Tabanani, Demfaye Njaga and Fitu Fulla are 26km while the Njau Sawalo loop is 13km road.
