On August 15, last month, we carried a story about the collapse of a bridge near Princess Town in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region. The collapsed bridge links Princess Town, Akwidaa, Cape Three Points and other satellite communities to the municipal capital, Agona Nkwanta. The bridge, according to the story, collapsed on June 22, 2023 during a heavy rain storm that hit the area.
Community members who earlier spoke to The Chronicle complained that the collapse of the bridge had seriously affected their standard of living. According to them, they were now paying twice the price they paid commercial drivers before carting their farm produce to Sekondi-Takoradi and beyond.
This development, they narrated to The Chronicle, had occurred because the vehicles would bring the produce from the farm gates to the site of the collapsed bridge, and then offloaded them into another truck waiting at the other side before being transported to the marketing centres.
The Chronicle understands the Divisional Chief of the area, Nana Akwanzi Abroba IV, who is also a member of the Council of State, had visited the site and assured the people that she would use her influence to draw the government’s attention to the problem.
The Ghana Highways Authority (GHA), the Ahanta West Municipal Assembly, and the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC), we are told, are also aware that the bridge had collapsed. As a matter of fact, we have reliably been informed that the GHA actually visited the site to take pictures, but the bridge has still not been fixed.
The Chronicle concedes that the pressure on the Consolidated Fund to make money available to fix problems in the various sectors of the economy is very enormous. Almost every community in Ghana is complaining about bad roads, especially now that the rains have set in, and calling on the government to fix them.
But the truth of the matter is that the demand on the national purse has far outstripped the revenues generated by the state to tackle development projects. But to the tax payer, he or she has fulfilled the obligation of paying taxes to the state, therefore, expect the latter to also honour her side of the bargain. The Chronicle does not disagree with these people because a hungry baby does not care whether the mother or father has money to buy food for him/her or not – all what the baby needs is food to eat.
This is the reason why we are pleading with the Ministry of Roads and Highways to squeeze water out of stone and ensure that funds are secured to repair the collapsed bridge. Since farmers, we all know, contribute substantially to the expansion of our national economy anything concerning their wellbeing must be taken serious.
Apart from this, Ahanta West, like Kasoa, near Accra, is fast expanding because of its proximity to Sekondi-Takoradi. This means most workers commute from the area on daily basis to attend work in Takoradi and its environs. So the collapse of the bridge is not only affecting the farmers, but government workers as well. As we earlier alluded to, the resources are simply not there but The Chronicle is still pleading with the relevant authorities to address the issue as soon as possible.
The 48 Engineer’s regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has, during emergency situations, been constructing bailey bridges for some of our communities. We believe when they are contacted, they will be ready to come in and help. Already, our earlier report suggested that officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had left the residents to their fate because they could not travel to affected communities to attend to their power problems.
This, in our opinion, is a serious problem and that is why we are appealing to the authorities to intervene as soon as practicable to repair the collapsed bridge.
