Govt releases funds to rebuild bridge over Okye River

The government has released funds for the reconstruction of the damaged 79-year-old concrete bridge over the Okye River on the Breman Asikuma–Akyem Oda main road.

The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) has estimated the cost of rebuilding the bridge at GH¢537,000.

Following the release of the funds, officials of the Bridge Maintenance Unit of the GHA have moved to site to begin the reconstruction of the bridge, which is expected to be completed within three months.

Processes

The Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Isaac Odoom, in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, expressed the hope that the damaged bridge would be completed ahead of schedule to help bring relief to motorists, commuters and farmers.

He said the Works Department of the assembly would team up with the team from the GHA to work on the project and ensure that it was executed according to specification and to achieve value for money.

He admitted that the destruction of the bridge about two months ago had brought about an increase in transportation cost for commuters who plied the road, since they now had to use long winding routes to get to their destinations.

He said the government considered the incident as an emergency, hence the swift response to get it fixed in order to relieve the people of the high transportation cost they were incurring on that stretch.

“I commend the government for the swift response to the matter, since the absence of the bridge is impeding farmers in particular from transporting their farm produce to the market centres for sale,” he DCE said.

Mr Odoom, meanwhile, called on drivers and commuters to exercise patience with the contractor working on the project.

Plans for Kuntanase bridge

He said the procurement processes towards the reconstruction of the bridge over the Boyor River had commenced.

The bridge, situated at Breman Kuntanase on the Agona Swedru-Breman Asikuma main road, also had a portion damaged when a truck carrying timber beams was crossing it on October 20, this year.

“I am hopeful that after the completion of the processes, the bridge will be reconstructed to bring to an end the plight of passengers using that stretch of road,” the DCE said.

MP

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Anthony Effah, thanked the government for the intervention and commended road users for their patience ever since the bridge collapsed.

Background

The 79-year-old concrete bridge over the Okye River collapsed on September 14, 2019 after the river overflowed its banks following a downpour.

The bridge, which was already showing signs of weakness, separated adjoining communities and cut off direct links to many nearby communities.

Among the communities affected are Ochisoa, Fosuansa, Jamra, Kokoso, Benin, Brakwa, Asentem and Amanfopong, all in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District in the Central Region.

Also affected were Akyem Oda in the Birim Central District and Akyem Awisa and Akyem Achiase, both in the Birim South District in the Eastern Region.