By Yunus S Saliu
One of the places in Greater Banjul Area where people cannot access the road freely to their houses when it rain is Tallinding Kunjang and it is also a place where people live in midst of a lot of garbage.
To be explicit, Tallinding Kunjang has only two constructed sub-roads which are Churchill Town to Tallinding Police Station, School Road and Churchill Town to Buffer Zone Road.
In spite of the other roads, Tallinding Kunjang has one road which came direct from the highway of the Tallinding Market and from that Highway junction the road goes straight to the river known as bolong.
The deplorable condition of this road from the highway down to the Farokono riverside in Tallinding Kunjang presently makes pedestrians wobbling in the road when going in and out of the streets. This long road full of mud left and right, potholes and even pits in the middle has no alternative road that the residents of Tallinding Kunjang particularly those at the Farokono can use.
Commercial vehicles – taxis or vans plying the route can hardly travel about 10 electricity poles before their wheels start sinking in the mud.
This road replete with mud and potholes is not only dangerous for the taxis or private vehicles at its present situation but to the residents especially children of 10-years-old and under.
Parents cannot send these children to the nearest kiosk or shop to buy their immediate needs because there is tendency of them sinking in the mud one way or another.
A visit by Fatunetwork to this road and environment has revealed the famous Tallinding Kunjang especially the Farokono side as an eyesore that residents there are living the lives of people in the slum. The residents lamented on the poor condition of this road which was last leveled with red sand and gravel in 2014.
Expressing concern on the condition of the road and the environment is a young woman named Awa Dem as she almost lost her five years old son in the mud. She was there on a visit and hence there was no taxi to go down the road she decided to walk with her little son, her foot slipped and the young lad got inside the mud but quickly saved by bystanders.
Demba, a resident of this area said when it rains the road is dangerous for vehicle driving because no driver can drive smoothly talk less of safely.
He added that the erosion from the main highway which supposed to go direct to ‘bolong’ cannot because there is no drainage or gutter in both side of the road and the houses are also very close to the road.
Modou Cham, in his ordeal, explained that each time a resident comes back from work in the evening they cannot go out till the following morning to avoid falling in the mud.
He disclosed that taxi driver who may want to drive passengers on a town-trip from the highway, normally charge D100 compared to the normal fare of D7.
People in this area are calling for support both financial and in kind to help them remedy the condition of both the road and the environment.
