Residents of Amukura West ward, Teso South Sub County have lauded the opening up of Osuret junction-Aderema-Akatagoroit road stating that it will boost their economic life and promote the accessibility of education to all in the area.
The 7.63 kilometers murram road which is 95% complete will cost a total of Ksh. 8 million when done and will have 3 box culverts.
Led by Calistus Otijong, residents said they have been suffering and incurring losses while transporting their farm produce due to lack of road.
“This place is hilly and we mostly depend on agriculture where we plant ground nuts, cassava, soyabeans and other crops. Transporting our farm produce has been a challenge where sometimes we have been using a lot of money on transport rather than production. This will now help to improve our economic life because we will now access the market and even highways easily and transport our products to the market, “he said.
Otijong further said the road will boost the education in the area as children will be able to go to school.
“Going to school for small children has been a problem in the area. The opening of the road and construction of the box culvert has now made schools in the area being accessible by all the school going children. This now promotes equality for education to all.
Magret Abeiting, said accessing health services have been a problem but the road will enable them to access the services.
“Women have been suffering for example when one wants to deliver; it has been a challenge to get to hospital causing lives to be lost. We have been carrying our loved ones who have died for up to 5 kilometers to bury them because the road was not passable by the vehicle.
Justus Sidai representing people living with disability said the opening of the road is of great benefit to them as they will be able to move without any hardship.
“To us people living with disability, this has been a problem to us. Moving from one point to another has been difficult because of the slope of this place. The opening of this road serves as a blessing to us because now we will be able to move freely to Lukolis and even go all along to Amukura without any difficulty, ‘he said.
He added that the development in the area will improve because of the ability of vehicles to move from the main highways to the interiors.
“Previously, no vehicle could have accessed this area and that has been hindering developments. We have people who want to build houses and even shops at the centers but they are not able to transport materials. With the road and box culverts, now we will experience development in the areas,” he said.
Amukura West ward MCA Bonface Erute said the road will save his people from struggles of accessing market and taking children to school
“This road serves many people from farmers to school going children. My people have been suffering and that’s why we decided to open it up so that they can access markets for their farm produce and their children can go to school,” he said.
He further stated that he is working on plans that will ensure his people are connected to electricity and get access to clean water.
“We are looking at establishing health centers so that they will not have to travel for long distances to access health services. We are also working to ensure that they get clean water and access to electricity.
The MCA cited lack of enough funds as the main challenges towards development in the area urging both governments to increase allocations for more development.
“Our people need developments starting from infrastructure, health and roads but the challenge remains to be funds. When enough funds are available with proper accountability, our people will benefit much. My urge to the national government is to increase the county allocation fund so that these funds can trickle down to benefit everyone in the country through development and good services,” he said.
According to Erute, since the beginning of financial year 2024-2025, a total of 22.8 km of roads have been done by Busia County government, with a total cost of 13.6 million in his ward.
By Rodgers Omondi
