Food stuff perishing, traders locked up, following collapse of Tamale bridge

The District Chief Executive for the Garu-Tempane in the Upper East Region, Emmanuel Asore Avoka, says the collapsed bridge over the Tamle River, will lock up a lots of food stuff at the Farm gates and affect the Assembly’s Internally Generated Funds.

On Friday, July 14, the bridge collapsed when an articulated truck with registration number GT 2758 -12, loaded with bags of Soya Beans from Garu to Kumasi was crossing it.

The truck with the load, hung on one side of the bridge after the collapse. Some 200 bags of the Soya Beans could not be saved because they fell into the river. The Driver and his mate, according to the District Chief Executive are safe.

Visit to the district three days after the collapse of the Tamle Bridge, revealed that, many commercial activities have almost come to a halt, as traders who hitheto traveled to Bawku to buy their items for resale, cannot cross the river.

According to the District Chief Executive, the Tamle Steel Bridge was a temporal bridge and since it was constructed in 2008, to replace an existing one that collapsed, there has not been any serious maintenance.

He hinted that, at least 40 heavy trucks carrying gravels and stones to the Tamle Irrigation Project site use the Tamle Bridge on daily basis, aside the heavy articulated trucks that load Cereals from the District on daily. “… don’t forget that, the bridge was a temperal one. Since 2008 there has not been any checks nor maintenance of the bridge.

It was the main link between Garu-Tempane District and Bawku and the rest of the Upper East Region. If we don’t get the bridge repaired as soon as possible, we will be cut off completely. There was so much pressure on the bridge, after the collapse of the Nalerigu bridge; heavy trucks from Nalerigu, Bunkprugu and Nakpanduri in the Northern Region used the bridge.”

Hon. Emmanuel Asore Avoka said the Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Bukari has assured that, some technocrats will be visiting the site to assess the level of damage on the bridge, and hoped that, that visit will result in quick repairs of the bridge.

As of Monday, July 17, no vehicle could use the bridge, and so heavy trucks from South and other parts the country that had come to load food stuff, were seen parked. Cereal Traders are worried over the delay and the subsequent charges by the truck owners, while traders whose food stuff are perishing have started counting their loss.

An alternative route would have been through Nalerigu, unfortunately the Steel Bridge at Nalerigu in the East Mamprusi District in the Northern Region also collapsed in the first week of July 2017, following a heavy down pour in the district.

Another route that links the Garu-Tempane District through the Binduri District is the Azimbasi Bridge, which has started developing cracks due to the continuous use by heavy trucks.

The constructions work on the Tamle Irrigation Project has caused water the stay around this bridge even with little down pour, thereby creating a booby trap.

The Garu-Tempane District Assembly depends largely on the levies collected from the trucks at the entrance and exits points to increase its Internally Generated Funds and with the inability of the trucks to move in and out with their load, the Assembly is very likely to suffer a short fall in its revenue for July and even August 2017.