UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took to his X handle to announce a comprehensive plan aimed at fixing the pervasive pothole problem across the country. In his tweet, he revealed that an impressive £8.3 billion would be earmarked for this initiative.
To gain firsthand insights, Prime Minister Sunak, accompanied by several cabinet members, hit the streets to assess the extent of the pothole predicament before the commencement of repair activities.
In his tweet, Sunak emphasised, “We all want to be able to get to where we want to go without disruption. That is why we are investing £8.3 billion to fill in potholes and repair our roads.”
Attempting to inject a touch of creativity, the Prime Minister crafted two sentences with the recurring theme of ‘potholes.’ However, this endeavour sparked a humorous response from social media users, with one individual reshaping the graphic into a lewd form and captioning it, ‘Fixed it for ya d**k.”
Among the comments, there were suggestions for general elections in the UK, indicating a desire for change.
Sunak, resolute in his commitment to combat ‘the scourge of potholes,’ highlighted that the funds would be sourced from scrapping the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2. He described the investment, spanning 11 years and accessible to local authorities, as ‘unprecedented.’
Despite the announcement, figures from the AA reveal that breakdowns linked to potholes are at nearly record-breaking levels, with over 450,000 reported incidents this year.
It should be noted that David Cameron, who was recently appointed as Foreign Secretary by Sunak in 2014, made a similar commitment when he was PM.
Based on the condition of potholes in the UK, one might infer that the potholes in Cameroon could be aptly termed as “lakes in the middle of roads.” In Douala, these potholes are transforming into water bodies resembling lakes or swimming pools. Notably, the government, particularly the Ministry of Public Works, has shown little initiative in addressing this issue.
Considering the substantial £8.3 billion allocation by the UK for pothole repairs, one wonders about the potential cost for Cameroon to address its numerous potholes, which number in the millions.
