General News of Wednesday, 1 May 2019

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh

Madina-Adenta footbridges, one complete

Workers of First Sky paving the front view of the footbridge Workers of First Sky paving the front view of the footbridge

One of the six footbridges on the Madina-Adentan highways given on contract in November last year has been completed.

Works on the five others are at various stages of completion.

When the Ghanaians Times visited the sites on Sunday pedestrians were seen using the footbridge at the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) junction while workers of First Sky Limited, the company undertaking the project were seen paving the front view and sidewalk of the completed bridge with others applying the final coating on the metal railings.

An official of First Sky who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Ghanaian Times that the bridge has been completed and would be handed over to government before the close of the week.

Meanwhile, the other five footbridges are about 90 per cent complete according to the contractors who are working on those at the Madina Zongo Junction, the Ritz Junction, Redco Flats, the Atomic Junction and the West African Senior High School (WASHS) and are expected to be completed in two weeks.

At the Madina Zongo junction, the contractor Messers, High Brains were busily fixing the metal railings on one side and are yet to remove the concrete platform of the bridge on the second section.

MessersJosorp, Just More, Perkams and Core Construction have also completed the concrete platforms and are yet to complete the fixing of the metal railings.

Work on the abandoned footbridges was re-awarded in November last year following a violent demonstration by Adentan residents after more than 24 deaths and 64 injuries were recorded on that stretch of road.

The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when a female student of WASS died on the spot when she was knocked down and killed by a taxi cab in front of the school.

The spontaneous reaction from the residence compelled government to award the project to six new contractors to ensure early completion and save motorists and pedestrians from further agony.

Each contractor was given April 30 as the deadline, but an investigation conducted by Ghanaian Times revealed that some of the contractors faced serious challenges with the relocation of major utility lines along with their areas of operation and would be unable to meet the April 30 deadline.