Fibre glass industry introduces new culvert covers

The Ghana Egypt Fibre Glass Industry (GEFGI) has introduced culvert covers, a new technology for application on Ghana’s road network, to ensure the safety of vehicular traffic and pedestrians.
The new technology was developed using fibre glass materials to design culvert covers with long lasting value to protect the security of road facilities.

The Executive Managing Director of GEFGI, Mr Essam ELN-aggar, who made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the fibre glass culvert material would be used to cover both sides of the drains to secure vehicles and the public crossing roads and highways.

Mr ELN-aggar said the culvert cover concept was an innovation developed as a better option to cast iron, and comes with immense benefits for road users due to the guaranteed tensile strength of the product.

He stated that the fibre glass culvert had a high load rating and an overwhelming advantage of stretch recovery with less noise and lower vibration transmission.

“The outstanding benefits of the culvert cover is the zero theft value, since it cannot be easily recycled and its robustness will help reduce the spate of accidents, replacements and maintenance cost caused by thefts,” he said.

The Country Director of GEFGI, Mr Benedict Lamptey, called on the government and stakeholders to embrace the new technology due to its durability, compared to cast iron or other materials which had a low capacity to withstand more loading per vehicle and it was not convenient transporting them nationwide.

He said the culvert cover concept had more than 30 years’ service life without cracks and had anti-corrosive, non-conductive and non-magnetic features, making it a robust material to withstand adverse weather and environmental conditions.

“Our company has undertaken a pilot project at Orgle Road, North Kaneshie, a suburb of Accra, where a constructed culvert cover was fixed on the main road, and despite the fact that the road is always busy, the product is doing well after 12 weeks of installation.”

GEFGI, which was established in Ghana this year, launched the fibre glass canoes concept in July to help the fishing industry improve on its performance.

Source: GNA/Ghana