Bridge closure takes toll on transport operators

Ho, July 16, GNA - The daily temporary closures of the Adomi Bridge at Atimpoku for emergency repair works are said to be taking a heavy toll on commercial road transport operators plying between the Volta and the Greater Accra regions and parts of the Eastern Region.

Mr Rexford Addo, Officer in-charge of Metro Mass Transport (MT) Service in the Volta Region told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, prior to the closure of the bridge, four of their buses were plying the Ho-Accra route everyday. He said they (MT) were now using two buses because of the low passenger turn-out which was seriously affecting its revenue situation. Mr. Addo said long queues of vehicles were now formed at both ends of the bridge because only two cars were allowed to cross the bridge from one end when it was opened.

Mr. Samuel Iddrisu, a driver who plies the Ho-Accra route said the congestion at the bridge was making travelling tiresome for both drivers and passengers.

He said the number of passengers that travel from Ho to Accra daily have decreased considerably thereby affecting the income of both drivers and transport owners.

Mr. Iddrisu said some of them tried using the Ho-Sogakope-Accra road but it was uneconomical.

He suggested that a road by-pass through Juapong to Akuse that avoided the Adomi bridge should be opened temporary for vehicles from the Volta Region going through to Accra and other parts of the Eastern Region. Madam Ayeshetu Mohammed, a trader said she has to cut down on the goods she normally bought in Accra because the vehicles she travels on from Accra were being weighed which situation was affecting her business adversely.

The Adomi Bridge, which links the Volta Region at Atimpoku in the Eastern region to the rest of the country would be closed to traffic daily between 0800 and 1200 hours daily for three weeks for emergency repair works.