Vandalism damages Oti Region bridge - Minister expresses concern
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has expressed concern about the vandalisation of a metal bridge over River Dikyebu, constructed to enhance accessibility in the Nkwanta Municipality of the Oti Region.
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The metal bridge, which has recently caved in, connects eight farming communities in the municipality. All the bolts and nuts securing the bridge have been removed, rendering it unsafe for vehicles to travel across.
Mr Asenso-Boakye expressed this concern when he visited Nkwanta as part of a country-wide tour of some selected road projects and inspections last Thursday. The country-wide tour took the Roads and Highways Minister and his entourage through the Bono, Ahafo, Ashanti, Central, Western, Eastern, Volta and Oti regions.
During the Oti Region tour, he said the government had invested a huge amount of money to construct the bridge in 2018 only for it to be destroyed by nation wreckers to enrich themselves.
The minister said such activities would go a long way to affect the progress of the people in the area. As such, Mr Asenso-Boakye called on the people not to look on for such unscrupulous people to derail the development process in their communities.
He said the government would look for funds to repair the bridge to ensure that foodstuffs were not locked up in the hinterlands. Touching on the trunk roads, Mr Asenso-Boakye noted that the Eastern Corridor Roads project, through the Volta and Oti regions, was an important and strategic project and its completion would enhance productivity and reduce travel time from the South to the North, assigned to Burkina Faso and the Sahalian region.
He expressed satisfaction that the tour had enabled him to see some of the road projects that had been completed and those that were ongoing. He, however, said projects that had stalled due to various challenges, including the Eastern Corridor Roads, would be re-started.
He gave an assurance that the government had secured the necessary funds for the road projects to be completed so it would be done without fail.
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At Hohoe in the Volta Region, Mr Asenso-Boakye paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Gbi Traditional Area, Togbega Gabusu VIII, where he expressed the government’s pleasure for the people in fulfilling their part of the campaign promise by giving the government the only Member of Parliament (MP) in the region in the person of John Peter Amewu.
As such, he said, he was in the area to assure the chiefs and people that the government was also ready to fulfil its part of the bargain by undertaking road projects. In that vein, he said the contractors would be sought and brought back to continue with the project or another would be assigned to restart the project.
Togbega Gabusu VIII, welcoming the entourage to the palace, expressed concern about the deplorable state of the roads in his traditional area.
He was unhappy that although his area was strategic, the road network had been neglected over the years and thus called on the government to do all that it could to complete the projects, which others had failed to do.
Observation
During the trip to the north in the company of the Roads and Highways Minister, the Daily Graphic observed that the deplorable roads had been aggravated by excessive rainfall in the area.
That had caused a number of cargo trucks, some of which were travelling on the stretch with loads of yams, to tilt over and get stuck in the middle of the road.