Roads Ministry moves to fix collapsed Doli bridge

The Ministry of Roads and Highways has moved in to, as a matter of urgency, fix the collapsed Doli bridge that has cut off road transport from Bole in the Savannah Region to Wa, the Upper West Regional capital.

In the meantime, a bailey bridge is to be constructed as a stop-gap measure to open up traffic for pedestrians as the Ministry makes efforts to fix the collapsed bridges and roads as soon as possible.

The sector minister, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, who announced this after he led a government delegation to assess the extent of damage yesterday, described the incident as a major disaster that had occurred.

He said the immediate but temporary move was a diversionary pathway to make the road, which was the main route connecting the Upper West Region, to the south passable.

While permanently fixing the collapsed bridge in the coming weeks, he indicated that additional culverts would be constructed to hold future floodwaters.

Also, the dam by the side of the road which broke its bank would be fixed to prevent any reoccurrence.

“I want to assure the people of the Savannah Region and the country that the government is attaching great importance to this particular problem because it is its determination that no part of the country should be cut off.

The bridge was constructed around 1987.

What, however, occasioned the washout was the nearby dam which broke its bank, and we are going to fix all as soon as practicable,” he noted.

Incident

Road transport from Bole to Wa in the Upper West Region has been cut off following a collapsed bridge on the Doli stretch of the route last Sunday.

The bridge is said to have been washed away after a dam by the side of the road broke its bank.

The road from Bole to Wa has since become impassable, leaving commuters stranded.

A downpour, which lasted for about four hours last Sunday afternoon, swept away a bridge at Doli in the Bole District in the Savannah Region, making the main road linking the Upper West Region to the south inaccessible.

The minister was accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Stephen Jalulah, the Savannah Regional Minister, Saeed Muhazu Jibril, officials of NADMO and the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA).

As part of the visit, the delegation also inspected sections of the N1 highway and drainage systems that were in deplorable state.

Writer’s email: mohammed.fugu@graphic.com.gh