A footbridge linking the Kumasi Central Market to Adum and other parts of the central business district risk collapse if immediate action is not taken by city authorities to clear hawkers off the facility.

The Kumasi railways footbridge, which was inaugurated in October 2013 to ease movement of pedestrians across the railway lines between Adum and Roman Hill, has been taken over by hawkers.

The 70-metre bridge has been turned into a selling point for hawkers in the central business district of Kumasi who deal in all kinds of wares.

The hawkers have turned the bridge into a thriving shopping centre as they where they displace their wares on pieces of mats on the floor of the bridge, a situation that is impeding pedestrian movement from one end to the other.

The situation is putting intense pressure on the GHC 2.2 million-footbridge. Ashanti Regional Urban Roads Engineer, Theodore Quaye, is worried the intense pressure on the bridge would reduce its life span and lead to subsequent collapse.

“The invasion of hawkers on the footbridge is likely to reduce the lifespan of the facility because of the intense pressure”. Mr Quaye said he would confer with the Ashanti regional minister, who is the Acting Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to take immediate steps to clear the hawkers off the bridge.