Parliament has summoned the Roads and Highways Minister, Kwesi Amoako-Atta, over the seeming chaos that has characterized the closure of the Buipe and Yapei Bridge for rehabilitation works.
The closure of the bridges has created untold hardship in the movement of goods and people over the Black Volta.
During parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday, the Minority Leader, Haruna Idrissu, said the Minister must brief the house about contingency arrangements made for travelers who will be affected by the closure of the bridges.
[contextly_sidebar id=”JPeztMoUnkPeqWor624326jpJx57qX1M”]“The closure of the two bridges at Yapei and Buipe has affected the movement of goods and passengers resulting in some untold hardship. We want to invite the Minister for Roads to further brief this house about what contingency measures they put in place before the announcement of the closure, and what he is doing to ameliorate the suffering of the many persons who want to travel from the North to the South,” he said.
The speaker subsequently directed the Minister to appear before the house over the matter.
The temporary closure of the Buipe and Yapei bridges in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region is affecting socioeconomic activities in the area and beyond.
Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako Atta, ordered the temporary measure for routine maintenance ahead of the Christmas season.
The Minister earlier in a Citi News interview posited that the two bridges were near collapse, hence the closure.
He estimated that the rehabilitation works would last for four weeks, and proposed that motorists should use the Eastern Corridor, Fufulso-Sawla and Central routes as alternatives.
The rehabilitation alone is to cost the state some Ghc4 million.
Since the closure, motorists from the Sahel and Northern and Upper East Regions have been stranded at the bridges site due to the long hours they have to spend waiting to cross.
Passengers in long vehicles are compelled to get down and walk across the bridge to continue the journey in standby buses at the other end.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Daboya bridge along that of Buipe and Yapei, will begin in 2018. Each of the three new bridges is estimated at 25 million US dollars.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana