Collapsed bridge cuts off Ahanta West
Socio-economic activities in Cape-Three-Points and Princess Town in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region have come to a standstill following the collapse of the only bridge linking the communities.
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The bridge collapsed during a recent rainstorm.
The affected communities are yet to receive attention from the relevant authorities since last May and June’s torrential rain.
The bridge is the only accessible route connecting communities, including Princess Town, Cape-Three-Points, Abease and a 100 other smaller farming and fishing communities.
Impact
At present, there is no movement of goods and service delivery from the area, while residents have to be transported on a canoe to access health care.
Processed fish meant for markets in Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and other parts of the country have gone bad because vehicles cannot cross over to the town.
Farm produce from these towns have been left to rot, while others have been sold at giveaway prices at a great loss to the farmers.
Farmers of tree crops such as rubber say due to the closure of the bridge, they are struggling to get their goods to the market conveniently.
Aside from that, tourists who visited the resorts along Cape-Three-Points before the rains and the destruction of the bridge had to abandon their vehicles.
Abandoned
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the President of the Western Nzema Youth League, Dr Patrick Ekye Kwesie, said thousands of inhabitants of the affected towns currently felt abandoned.
He said residents were stranded following the collapse of the bridge that connected many communities to Agona Nkwanta to access basic supplies and health care.
“It is sad that since the bridge collapsed in June after the torrential rains, we are yet to receive attention.
The situation left commuters including tourists, women, children, traders, the sick, among others, stranded,” he said.
“As we speak, vehicles and commuters are converging on both sides of the collapsed bridge on a daily basis.Tourists who had booked the facilities along the coasts online met a collapsed bridge; it is an economic loss to the community and the investors,” he said.
Dr Kwesie said community members were expecting the authorities to have at least created a bypass for motorcycles and tricycles to enable traders to access the market centres and health care.
The prevailing situation
The President of the Western Nzema Youth League said currently passengers with wares were forced to travel using multiple or hired vehicles before getting to their destinations, a situation, he said, commuters described as very torturous and expensive and that recently the member of the Council of State promised to get it fixed, but there was no sign of it happening.
“The bridge is very important to our very survival in our part of the region.
We are losing a lot; tourism facilities along the coasts of Princess-Town, Miemie, and Cape Three Points cannot be accessed.
“All the coastal communities need currently is for the government through the highways or the assembly to fix the broken bridge for us,” he stated.
angry residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic said their predicament had not received the same prompt attention that a place in the North East Region where a similar incident had recently happened had received.
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“In Nalerigu and Walewale where floodwaters led to the collapse of Kuruduguri Bridge, the situation is receiving urgent attention and the road temporarily fixed.
But what about us?
“Our story is even worse than that of our fellow compatriots in the northern part of the country – but we see nothing, no one has said anything about the situation, it seems we have been forgotten,” a resident named Kwame said.