Birim bridge renovation stalls due to lack of logistics
Engineers renovating the bridge over the Birim River at Akyem Oda have abandoned the project due to lack of logistics.
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The situation has dashed the hopes of drivers and pedestrians who were looking forward to the early completion of the project to ease the inconvenience they have to go through to travel to places beyond the river.
For about a month now engineers from the Road Maintenance Unit of the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) who were undertaking the project have packed out of the site.
The rehabilitation work was originally scheduled for completion in March this year but was shifted to last month and is now on hold.
Birim Central MCE
When the Daily Graphic contacted the Birim Central Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Kwabena Nkansah-Asare, on the issue, he confirmed that the engineers had left the site due to shortage of logistics.
He, however, stated that he was in constant touch with the Eastern Regional Minister and the Regional Engineer of the GHA to impress upon the Ghana Road Fund, financiers of the project, to release money for the immediate completion of the project.
The bridge is on a major route that facilitates the movement of goods and people from Oda to New Abirem, Nkawkaw and Kumasi.
Appeal
At a press conference on Tuesday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Akyem Oda Concerned Citizens Association, Mr Gilbert Kwasi Frimpong, appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Finance Ministry, the Eastern Regional Minister and the Birim Central Municipal Assembly to fast-track the processes and release money to the GHA as early as possible for the completion of the project within the shortest possible time.
“Failure to heed to this our humble appeal by the end of June 2016 will compel us to use every legitimate means available at our disposal to force these bodies to release the funds,” he stressed.
Danger
Mr Frimpong also expressed concern over the attitude of some transport operators and managers who had removed the heavy concrete slabs used to block access to the bridge and were driving on the weak bridge at night.
He warned that those drivers did so at their peril while putting the lives of their passengers also in danger because, according to the GHA, some bolts and knots under the bridge had been loosened and the slightest trigger could lead to the total collapse of the bridge and its repercussions could be too grave for all to bear.
