The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has hinted that the Akufo-Addo-led government is constructing 50 Czech steel bridges with a total span of 1,500 meters secured through Messrs Knights A/S being fixed across the country.
According to him, some of the substantially completed bridges including the bridge over the stream at Taifa-Dome in the Greater Accra Region, the bridge over the Okurudu Stream at Kpormettey in the Central Region, and the bridge over the Birim River on the Akim Mampong-Adasawase road in the Eastern Region.
Others are the bridge on the Kokoso-Bohyen road in the Ashanti Region, as well as the bridge over the Kamba River on the Sentu-Girigan-Kpari road in the Upper West Region, as well as 10 including the Okwenya and Community 12 bridges.
The Government of Ghana entered into contract agreement for the design, supply, and installation, and related civil works for 50 composite bridges and the financing of the project were signed by the government, Knights A/S, and the Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Bank on April 2, 2019.
The Minister, also Member of Parliament for Atiwa West constituency in the Eastern Region said this when he led a delegation to the Czech Republic at the invitation of Messrs Knights A/S to discuss the progress of the installation of 50 steel bridges in Ghana by Knights A/S, funded with a Czech export credit facility.
The Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic, Martin Kupka, also invited Mr. Amoako-Attah to the World Road and Road Transport Conference to be held in Prague, Czech
The Minister for Roads and Highways noted that the Government is in talks with the Czech Republic to negotiate for an additional 100 steel bridges, adding that of the 50 bridges which were provided through support from the Czech government, 34 had been launched while 10 were substantially completed and ready for use.
He noted that the government is making efforts to replace deteriorated bridges in the country to “open up communities which hitherto were cut off due to water crossing points’’ adding that the bridges would help reduce travel time and make the movement of people from local communities easier, as well as remove traffic bottlenecks at river crossings and contribute to the growth of the agricultural sector.
“The additional 100 bridges, when secured, will be used on feeder roads across the country to help improve accessibility in farming communities and also replace some existing steel bridges that have deteriorated over the years,” the minister said.
At the meeting, Mr Amoako-Attah eulogized the cordial relations between Ghana and the Czech Republic which date back to 1959 as well as the role Czech investment had played in the economic development of Ghana.
The Chief Executive Officer of EGAP, Dr. David Havelicek, on his part hailed the progress Knights A/S had made in the installation of 50 steel bridges in Ghana and assured the minister of his company’s support.
-BY Daniel Bampoe