The Adomi Bridge is at atimpoku in the eastern region, linking the southeastern part of Ghana to the Volta and northern regions. The first President of the Republic of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, opened this famous bridge in 1956. After its inception, it has undergone repair works only once till now.
This famous edifice will now be closed to vehicular traffic for three weeks starting from the 12th of July 2008 for repair works to be done on some of the steel beams supporting the bridge. These are reported to have developed some serious cracking resulting in some strenuous depression on a section of the bridge.
As much as it is good that such a problem is being taken care of, to prevent the country from witnessing another “evil day”, in my opinion, it is long over due.
This clearly shows that our maintenance culture in this country is nothing to right home about. I find it quite disturbing after reading Daily Graphic’s lead story, which reported some residents of Atimpoku saying that, this problem was detected by some fishermen two months ago. Several reports made to the Ghana High Way Authority proofed futile until it was brought to the knowledge of the masses through the media.
So why should it take the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), two “be-devilling” months of negligence before attending to this situation. During the two-month period, there could have been a major canker leading to the “depreciation of the country’s population”. I hope they were not waiting for the worst to happen.
My major concern is how commuters who ply this route, will now get to their various destination. This is because the bridge has been closed down for repair works. The only alternate route for those destining to the regional capital and other parts of the region like Peki is to go through Sogakope via Akatsi, Dodze and Ziope to Ho, or Sogakope through Adidome to Ho. Better still, commuters will have to alight at atimpoku and then get to the other side through a canoe before boarding another vehicle (that is when using a passenger car) or wait until the bridge is opened in the late afternoon as suggested. Three weeks of hampering vehicular traffic through that bridge will cost a lot. Now with the increasingly shooting up of petroleum prices by the world market which has led to the pronouncement of the economic mitigation by President J.A Kuffour without affecting too much the price of petrol in Ghana, one will wonder how our mothers could afford to transport the raw materials (cassava, yam, plantain, etc) they harvest to the urban areas for consumption. Does it mean that they will have to resort to the other alternate route, which will drain a lot of their hard earned money because of the long distance they have to travel? Let us not forget that anything the producer faces in terms of production is transferred unto the consumer. I can confidently stick my neck out that the cost of transportation and frequent delays will definitely have an adverse effect on the current prices of some materials and foodstuffs especially from the Volta region.
May be this time around, there was no ‘JOSEPH’ to predict this purported “food crisis” for three weeks.
I have also in recent times through my investigation realised that, commuters who could not afford to travel through the other alternate routes are subjected to wait for long hours until the bridge is finally opened. This has now caused stagnation in their businesses and to some extent reduced the level of production.
This brings back to memory the way a manner our bridges are been maintained in our beloved country. In recent times, both the electronic and print media have published the state of some of our bridges during the rainy season. Most recent of all was a news telecast on GTV concerning the abandoned bridge near the Accra abattoir on the Accra-Tema motorway. Its efficacy is much to be desired. Big trucks, which have been overloaded, continue to have ‘banging intercourse’ with this, weary edifice which was constructed during the time of the first prime minister of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The most fascinating thing about this bridge is that, it is no more in use. Its current plight is likened to a timed bomb, which could collapse at any time. I hope the Ghana Highway Authorities are not waiting for the worst to happen before they start putting up measures to control future occurrences. If it is of no use, demolishing will be the best thing to do. Do not forget that is an ardent spot of fatal accidents.
Our drivers especially those of the big trucks, should also be disciplined enough and load their trucks with the required weight, to prevent excessive pressure been mounted on our bridges. For the ones that have been washed away by the rains, the least said about it, the better. (Abysmal construction works).
Let us improve our maintenance culture as a country other than abusing the offices we find ourselves because the next doolally calamity, could find ourselves, relatives or close friends as the next casualty.
Story by etor.
