The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) has said the various footbridges being constructed along the Madina-Adenta Highway stretch which commenced last November are about 80 per cent complete.
According to the Authority, the contractors are working to meet the deadline.
In a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Madam Diana Siade, Head of Public Relations at GHA assured the public that the project, scheduled to be completed this month, April, would be completed as planned.
The GNA observed at the project site that the frame for the footbridges had been erected and some already in concrete.
GNA also observed during a tour that all the six footbridges at the various locations; Firestone, Madina-Zongo Junction, Redco Junction, Ritz Junction, SDA Junction and WASS were at various stages of completion.
Meanwhile, scores of pedestrians in and around Madina and Adenta have expressed mixed reactions towards the progress of work while others were confident that the work would be completed as schedule.
Mr. Stephen Onomah, a concerned road user told the GNA that the project should not be rushed to completion to avoid shoddy works.
Mr. Emmanuel Kwesi Arkyim-Quansah, the Headmaster of Tot-To-Teen School Limited, however, said the project was moving at a slower pace than expected.
The GNA also observed that the Motor Transport and Traffic Department patrol teams were at vantage points assisting pedestrians to cross the road safely without being knocked down by speeding vehicles.
It is recalled that on Thursday, November 8, 2018; a taxi cab knocked down a female student of WASS on the Adenta-Madina Highway leading to her immediate demise, which led to riots by the residents to demand the completion of the footbridges.
The residents blocked the road and burnt car tyres to prevent the movement of vehicular traffic as a way of expressing their anger over the frequent accidents and casualties due to the non-availability of footbridges.
It took the timely intervention of the Police and personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service to quench the fire to restore sanity and free flow of vehicular traffic.
On November 9, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Roads and Highways, Transport and Interior issued a statement that work would commence in a week’s time (November 16).
Some residents however on Monday, November 12, 2018, staged another peaceful protest to re-echo the need for the government to urgently fix the uncompleted footbridges to safeguard lives of pedestrians.
On the same day, officials of the Ghana Highway Authority took six contractors to the site in readiness to begin work on the uncompleted footbridges after receiving the architectural drawings towards the start of work.
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Source: GNA / Ghanawish.com
