Shocking! Death Trap Bridge On River Akrakpa Connecting Mafi-Adidome To Juapong Collapses; 2 People Escape Unhurt—Residents Blame Highway Authorities
The long vehicle truck trailer loaded with huge bags of salt was traveling from Mafi-Adidome stretch to Juapong before the Akrakpa River bridge on the Juapong and Mafi-Adidome road got collapsed.
Freeman Koryekpor 
TWO PEOPLE escaped drowned or death narrowly when a dilapidated bridge on the River Akrakpa connecting villages and towns through Mafi-Adidome, Mepe Titikope to Juapong in the Volta Region collapsed at about 10:25 pm on Thursday January 25, 2024 evening.
The long vehicle truck trailer with registration number GR 7325-17 loaded with huge bags of salt was traveling from Mafi-Adidome stretch to Juapong before the Akrakpa River bridge on the Juapong and Mafi-Adidome road got collapsed.
Shockingly, the back view of the long vehicle truck trailer was completely fallen into the river and fortunately it was left with front view of the truck on the bridge when the incident occurred.
The known dilapidated bridge stretching over the Akrakpa River saved villages and towns within both Central and North Tongu Districts in the Volta Region and that the collapsed of the bridge has caused thousands of commuters stranded.
However, the aggrieved residents blamed the top officials of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA),Ministry of Roads, the District Chief Executive Office of the Central District Assembly, Mr Thomas Moore Zonyrah and District Chief Executive (DCE) for North Tongu, Hon. Divine Osborn kwadzo Fenu for the incident, saying that bridge has to be blocked for long time by the highway authorities because of structural damage.
"Bridge until it was unusable and on the verge of collapse we have drawn attention to the Assemblies and Highway Authorities, but because of their negligence, the bridge has collapsed on the morning of Thursday January 25, 2024 and we are fortunate that no death has been recorded," the residents told Soireenews.coom.
But in a quick response in an interview with Soireenews.com, Mr Thomas Moore Zonyrah shoot down the claim that the bridge doesn't fall his jurisdiction, saying that he cannot be blamed for the negligence in the connection of the collapse of the bridge.
The DCE admitted that the bridge has collapsed itself and that its collapsed cannot be attributed to the faut of the drivers of the long vehicle truck trailer, stressing the collapse of the bridge is no negligence on party of the two Assemblies.
He pointed that the two Assemblies cannot repair the bridge, explaining that when they noticed the weak nature of the bridge, the two Assemblies have hurriedly made contingency efforts to officially inform and subsequently invited the officials of the GHA to verify the problem on the bridge.
The DCE was quick to state that the dilapidated bridge should be saved from collapsing if the GHA has not delayed to explore measures fix the bridge. But the District Chief Executive for North Tongu, Mr. Divine Osborn kwadzo Fenu has refused to answer the calls of this journalist.
The Assembly member of the Mepe Electoral Area in the North Tongu District Assembly of the Volta Region, Honourable Christian Ameglah told Soireenews.com that the bridge collapsed at about 10:25 pm on Thursday evening when the driver and his mate on a moving long vehicle truck trailer loaded with bags of salt.
According to the information from the residents corroborated with the North District Assembly Engineer, Mr. Ebenezer Adegah, the two DCEs and the officials of the GHA, Volta River Authority and other relevant road experts in the region were aware of the dilapidated nature of the Akrakpa River bridge.
Fortunately, the driver and his mate who were crossing the bridge with their long vehicle when the incident happened managed to escape drowning in the Akrakpa river, but couldn't save their loaded salt which got melted in the river.
Their food items and other personal belongings including student mattress
were saved by the some good samaritans who managed to swim to help them after the incident.
Commuters and drivers including motor bike drivers who have been crossing the bridge have since Thursday, January 25, 2024 been stranded.
The predominantly subsistence farmers, growing crops such as maize, rice and vegetables cannot transport their produce for sale in the major markets in the area.
It has therefore become a must for the residents to travel to Mafi-Adidome, Mepe
and Juapong areas to have access to social amenities such as health facilities, mobile phone services and sell their produce at a great cost.
Residents in the villages and towns within Mepe, Mafi-Addidome and Juapong have
been using the bridge which has been in a deplorable state for so many years now, but the situation worsened within last month when the area experienced series of torrential rainfalls leading to the overflow of the river.
More than 45 communities in the area have been using the bridge linking the two districts North and Central Tongue) over the years.
Mafi-Adidome, Mepe, Battor, Juapong and their surrounding communities have been hit hard because of the absence of proper social amenities.
Means of transport
As a stop gap, Mr Fenu who is currently at the scene was reported to have managed to acquire a canoe to ensure the people are carry from one point to another.
The people are still sitting on the time bomb because part of the bridge currently being used after the canoe has taken to a point is weak and can also collapse at any time while it would be very difficult to access health care in an emergency.
Dadome Assembly’s visit
After visiting the area to assess the situation, Assembly Member of Dodome Electoral Honourable Christian Ameglah, whose assembly bridge falls on expressed worry
over the situation and called on the central government to come to the aid of the assembly by constructing a proper bridge to connect the two communities and its environs.
He pleaded with the Ministry of Roads and Highways to consider the plight of the people and add the North Tongue District to the beneficiaries of the bridges to be constructed under an agreement between Ghana and China signed when the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia visited China recently.
Additionally, the Assembly man said: “ the government should make sure all communities, especially all the villages and towns along the banks of Rivers Volta and Akrakpa get access to adequate potable water and connect to the national grid.”
Honourable Amegla on behalf of the chiefs and people in the traditional areas within the district urged the DCE and assembly members to complement each other’s efforts towards developing the district.
