Madina-Adenta foot bridges update: Work to be completed in April 2019 or earlier

A resident engineer of the Ghana Highway Authority, overseeing the completion of six foot bridges on the 5.6 kilometre Madina-Adenta highway, says work is progressing, and per a six-month programme, “we are looking at April 2019, but it could be earlier”. Some residents had previously expressed concerns about the speed of work, alleging that not much is happening apart from cordoning off the area earmarked for the on-going project. But Mr. Shamsu Deen Issah confirmed to Johnnie Hughes on #CommunityConnect Friday, that contractors were at various stages of construction – demolition, excavation, setting out and foundation construction respectively. On the issue of funding, Mr. Issah noted that unlike the previous financial hiccups that stalled the construction, there is “no problem with money. No, not this one” The assemblyman for Gbentanaa electoral area within the Adentan municipality, Stephen Acquah confirmed that work is progressing steadily. He thanked #CommunityConnect for staying the cause to ensure that the bridges become functional. In a related development, the resident engineer also hinted “there’s a programme to remove all bill boards and adverts on the bridges and replace them with directional signs”. When Johnnie Hughes pushed further for timelines, his response was, “I can’t confirm, I am here to talk about construction on the ground not technical issues”. He added, “we have what we came to do, and as our programme, when we have our designs ready, we will be putting them there. as at when these ones will be taken down, I am not privy to that.” In the heat of protests to register their displeasure about the abandoned foot bridges, some residents and  members of the Adentan municipal assembly expressed intense anger that they found it absurd and insulting that the highway authority is profiteering from a situation that has claimed more than 200 lives by allowing the bill boards to be mounted. Shamsu Deen Issah explained that the Highway Authority had not collected money to permit people to place adverts there. He stressed, “I have no idea who the money is going to, and we have not approved any of those structures there, so we will be pulling them down”. It however remains unclear, who the advertisers have been paying rent fees to, since the municipal assembly and the Ghana Highway Authority have both disowned them. #CommunityConnect is live on 3fm 92.7 on Fridays at 9:00 am with Johnnie Hughes. Source: 3news.com | Ghana]]>