Government secures GHC62m Danish facility to build 7 bridges in the North

Government has secured a Danish facility of over GHC62 million to build seven bridges in the North, under a project dubbed “Northern Bridges Project”.

The bridges would be constructed in Doninga in Builsa South, Kulungugu in Bawku Municipal in the Upper East Region and at Sissili in Sissala East Municipal, as well as on the Kulun and Ambalaara rivers in the Wa East District, all in the Upper West Region.

Construction of these bridges among others, according to the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, is expected to help address the impact of perennial flooding on the people of Northern Ghana.

Mr. Amoako-Atta was speaking during a durbar of Chiefs and people of the Funsi Traditional Area, as part of President Akufo Addo’s two-day tour of the Upper West Region.

The Monk Civil Engineers and Swaco Company are the two companies executing the project and had already started work on the Doninga and Kulungugu bridges in the Upper East Region.

They are also mobilizing to move to the Upper West Region to start work on Kulun and Ambalaara bridges soon.

“I have good news for you; by the time we finish building the Doninga, Sissili, Kulun and Ambalaara bridges, a road will be opened and people traveling from Upper East to Upper West Regions will shorten their distance by 124-kilometres”, he said.

Mr. Amoako-Atta noted that, apart from these bridges, the 39-kilometres Wahabu-Funsi-Yala and the 88-kilometre Wa-Bulenga-Yala roads were also captured in the mid-year budget presented to Parliament by Finance Minister, Ken Offori-Atta.

He said 23-Kilometres out of the 39-kilometre Wahabu-Funsi-Yala road had been captured in the mid-year budget, adding that, this had set his Ministry into working actively to go through the procurement process as quickly as possible.

He said they have taken 10-kilometres out of the remaining kilometres and added to the Funsi town roads, including the internal roads of the Funsi Senior High School, which would be built to befit its status as the district capital.

The Roads Minister again noted that 28-kilometres out of the total 88-Kilometre Wa-Bulenga-Yala Road was captured in the mid-year budget, adding that, the remaining 60-kilometres was also covered under the Sino Hydro facility, which had already taken off.

“The President did us the honour by cutting the sod for the Sino Hydro Project in Tamale and as I speak to you now, the Tamale Interchange is progressing steadily.

At Lambussie, Mr. Amoako-Atta commended the land topography of the Lambussie District, saying they would not have challenges constructing their roads as they strategized to tackle the area’s roads in two phases.

He said phase one would concentrate on re-gravelling while phase two would raise all the re-gravelled roads to bitumen level.

The Roads Minister said the 4.7-Kilometre Lambussie road, six-kilometres Zini-Piina-Lambussie Junction road had been awarded to Niger Savannah Construction Limited, at a total cost of GHC13.9 million. Also, the 8.5-Kilometres Lambussie-Banmwor road had been awarded to Upkeep Ventures at the same cost of 13.9 million, he said, stressing that, letters had been issued to this effect and within the next five weeks the contractors would move to site.

Mr. Amoako-Atta said the almost 40-kilometres Nadowli-Lawra-Nandom-Hamile stretch of road was being handled by PW Ganem Company Limited, of which 82 percent of work had been done already.

He said the 40-kilometre Hamile-Tumu road had been awarded, and that, the good thing about that road was the social intervention package built into it.

He said the social intervention package would see to the provision of six boreholes in the Lambussie District and another 10 in the Sissala West District.