Kwasi Amoako-Attah
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has called for a concerted effort by the security agencies and the national security to protect major bridges in the country from criminals and unpatriotic Ghanaians who go and dismantle parts of the bridges with the aim of stealing them.
The minister made the urgent call when he appeared in Parliament to answer an urgent question by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asuogyaman, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, as to whether the ministry was aware of news reports that bolts and nuts used to rehabilitate the Adomi Bridge had been stolen and what measures the ministry was taking to address the situation.
The minister said the situation is not peculiar to the Adomi Bridge but all major bridges across the country, stressing that a major steel bridge in the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East Region collapsed last year because thieves dismantled parts of the bridge and stole them causing the eventual collapse of the bridge.
He disclosed that the stealing of the 60 bolts and nuts on the Adomi Bridge does not put the bridge and its users in an immediate danger.
He told Parliament that officials of the Bridge Maintenance Unit of the Ghana Highways Authority after detecting the theft moved to the site on Monday, November 5, to fix new bolts and nuts.
He said a tender has been opened for streetlights to be fixed on the bridge and its adjoining areas with two contractors being selected from the six bidders to execute the project.
According to him, the necessary procurement processes are now being sped up to ensure that the lights are fixed as early as possible to improve security on the bridge.
“There is no risk for users of the Adomi Bridge as everything is under firm control,” he assured parliamentarians.
He appealed to Parliament to find a way of ensuring that funds that are approved by the House for the construction of bridges in the country do not go to waste as a result of theft.
He also called on the national security to do something urgently about such thefts.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr