After 6 decades of neglect: Vea community completes bridge across Vea Dam spillway

A community initiative by the people of Vea in the Bongo District in the Upper East Region has led to the construction of a long-awaited bridge over the Vea Dam spillway, ending nearly six decades of crossing the riverine passage at their peril, especially when the dam overflows.

The absence of the bridge left thousands of residents cut off from healthcare, education and economic opportunities during the rainy season when the dam usually overflows and leaves the spillway full of water.

The newly inaugurated bridge, worth over GH¢1 million, was financed primarily through contributions from a native of the area, Abubakar Sadiq Atanga, the U.S.-based Real Life Ministry and community volunteers.

This was after successive governments had failed to respond to repeated calls by residents for the bridge.

Risk and neglect

The Vea Irrigation Dam, constructed in 1965, has no bridge across its spillway. For more than half a century, residents have been forced to swim or rely on unstable canoes to reach surrounding communities such as Gowrie, Zorko, Nyariga and Balungu during the six-month rainy season.

Patients travelling to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital or the Bongo District Hospital often faced life-threatening delays, while students heading to the Gowrie Senior High School and other schools in Bolgatanga frequently missed classes. Canoe operators charged up to GH¢20 to ferry passengers and motorbikes.

Former Roads and Highways Minister Kwasi Amoako-Atta promised in 2020 that a bridge would be completed by late 2021, but no work materialised before the administration left office in December 2024, despite a sod-cutting ceremony reported by the Daily Graphic on January 13, 2023.

Although the World Bank approved $125 million for irrigation improvements in July this year, the package did not include the Vea spillway bridge, compelling residents to undertake the project themselves.

What the bridge means to the people

The Assembly Member for the area, Wilbert Apu-usum, described the bridge as a major relief to residents and neighbouring communities.

“The completion of this bridge means a lot, not only to the people of Vea, but also to the surrounding communities and, indeed, the entire region.

Since 1965, we have been crossing this spillway each year through risky means.

Before the canoes came, we even had to swim across to Gowrie and other neighbouring communities.

This is a major relief to us as a community.”

Local trader, Akolpoka Ayinpono, indicated, “Every rainy season, we lived in fear.

Crossing the spillway with our goods was dangerous and we often lost items or failed to reach the market in time to trade. It feels great to see this burden finally lifted. I am very happy.”

A day student of the Gowrie Senior High School, Cynthia Akurugu, said, “The construction of the bridge is a big relief for us.

I missed classes whenever the water level is high because crossing by canoe was risky and often caused delays.

I am very happy and grateful to the community for their effort.”

Behind the construction

The lead financier of the project, Abubakar Sadiq Atanga, said the project was in fulfilment of a promise he made as a frightened 12-year-old boy.

Born at Akim Asuom in the Eastern Region, he first visited Vea with his father decades ago, an experience he said shaped his life.

“When we got to the spillway, it was full, so we had to cross by canoe.

In the middle of the water, the canoe began shaking as the operator scooped out water.

I was scared and asked my father what would happen if we capsized.

He said, ‘If you don’t know how to swim, you’ll die,’” Mr Atanga recalled.

Years later, while working in Tanzania, Mr Atanga said he saw an irrigation dam with a well-constructed spillway bridge, which renewed his determination to construct the bridge across the spillway to bring relief to the people.

When the Vea Homecoming Initiative revisited the idea of a bridge around 2019 and the government support failed to materialise, Mr Atanga committed his personal resources to begin the project, inspiring the Real Life Ministry to provide major funding to complete it.

Call for road upgrade

Following the completion of the bridge, residents are urging the government to upgrade the road linking Gowrie, the new bridge and the Zorko community, emphasising that the bridge’s full benefits can only be realised if the connecting roads are improved.