The Deputy Minister in charge of Roads and Highways, Mr Isaac Adjei Mensah, has expressed concern about the deplorable state of the Kulungugu Bridge which served as a major transit point between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

The Deputy Minister expressed the concern when he visited the area with a high powered delegation from the sector ministry, as part of his five-day working visit to the three Northern Regions to inspect road projects and the level of damage caused to them by the recent floods.

Mr Adjei Mensah indicated that in the interim, the Ministry together with Burkina Faso and the other neighbouring countries, would brainstorm on how they would repair the damaged Bridge to facilitate the movement of goods and services.

He advised road officials in the region to prevent heavy duty vehicles from using the bridge to avoid any disaster, adding that, “the heavy duty vehicles could use the other alternative routes whilst they wait patiently for major repairs on the Kulungugu Bridge”.

He hinted that the Kulungugu Bridge formed part of the Eastern Corridor road project and stressed that when the time was due, the Bridge would be constructed to meet international standards.

The Deputy Minister said he was in the region on behalf of the sector Minister to inspect the level of damage caused by the recent floods to the roads in the three Northern Regions, and assured the affected communities that government would come to their aid.

According to him, President Mahama viewed infrastructural development as a key component to national development, adding that, government was devoting lots of resources to develop the road sector.

He said he was highly impressed by the level of work executed by some of the contractors, and noted that in spite of the fact that government delayed in the release of funds to the contractors, majority of them had used their own resources to pre-finance the projects whilst waiting for reimbursement from government.

“This is very commendable. The execution of their work is not only excellent, but is above 90 per cent completion,” he stated.

The Deputy Minister, who was accompanied Mr Francis Degbe, Director of Monitoring and Evaluation of Roads and Highways and Mr Duncan Williams, Deputy Director of the sector, inspected the Bolgatanga township roads, the Navrongo-Tumu Road, the Bolgatanga-Bawku roads, the Partriga Bridge and the Nyariga Bridge, among other projects.

In the Upper West Region, the Minister and his team also inspected the Wa–Sawla Roads, Wa–Dorimon road, Wa–Bulenga and the Wa Funsi-Nabula road, among others. In the Northern Region, some of the projects they inspected included the Tamale-Buipe road, Mpahe road and the Fufulsi-Sawla roads.