The damaged portion of the Walewale -Nalerigu highway in the North East Region has been temporarily fixed and opened to traffic.

Following the collapse of a bridge at between the Gbani and Tinguri communities along the stretch last Wednesday, engineers from the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) and contractors worked tirelessly to make the road passable and opened to traffic last Saturday.

This is to serve as a stop-gap measure as efforts were underway to permanently fix the broken bridge in the coming days.

Devastation

Last Wednesday, parts of the West Mamprusi and East Mamprusi municipalities were submerged in water following a downpour.

Walewale, the West Mamprusi Municipal capital, has been cut off from Nalerigu, the regional capital, as a bridge and a dam at Tinguri were swept away by the floods.

This has rendered the main road linking the two towns inaccessible.

The situation has rendered some residents homeless and destroyed swaths of farmlands.

Following the incident, the Ministry of Roads and Highways has been assessing the extent of damage to road infrastructure in the region.

In the meantime, temporary bridges and pathways are to be constructed, as a matter of urgency, on sections of roads in the Mamprugu area, which have been washed away by floods.

Progress of work

The North East Regional Minister, Yidana Zakaria, and the Chief Director of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Dr Abass Awolu, visited the area to assess the progress of work.

Mr Zakaria said the reconstruction of the bridge was expected to begin shortly after the erection of the bailey bridge, which would take away vehicular and human activities from the main bridge until it was fixed.

Aside from bridges, he said engineers from the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) were also on site assessing Gbani and various dams for maintenance to forestall any reoccurrence.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline