Ghana Highway Authority to surcharge road users who break bridges

Mr Christian Nti, the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Highway Authority, says the Authority will surcharge any road user that breaks a bridge in the process of using the road.

“Whoever destroys or breaks a bridge, we will surcharge you, the Police will arrest you and you will pay for it. We need to as a nation understand the negative impact of overweight and over-height loads carried in heavy duty vehicles. One day the bridge can collapse and it will become a national disaster.

He disclosed the step taken by the Authority when he led a delegation from his office to seek a collaboration with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to educate the public, particularly active road users on the do’s and don’ts on roads and the work being done by the Authority on road networks.

Mr Nti explained that the decision was due to the constant overloading by heavy duty vehicles beyond the 4.5 metre limit, which sometimes broke bridges constructed on roads.

The collaboration between the Authority and the GBC, was therefore, expected to encourage the Corporation to produce documentary evidence and with CCTV camera installations to apprehend offenders, he said.

The breakages of the bridges, he said caused a delay in completion of developmental projects, which sometimes aroused blaming attitudes from the public.

He also cautioned the public to desist from encroaching on road reservations, saying all roads were constructed with the aim of expanding them into a dual-carriage in future.

“People encroach on road conservations, but they should understand that even if they don’t know, they should be at least 30 metres away from the centre of the road at both the right and left corridor.

“People shouldn’t assume that the rest of the land by road is free and therefore they can move onto them. When the time comes to expand to dual carriage in the future, then the authority faces problems with compensation which doesn’t make the authority finish projects on time,” he added.

Professor Amin Alhassan, the Director-General of the GBC, gave an assurance to let the editorial team of the Corporation understand the need to contribute towards reducing the menace of heavy duty vehicles destroying road networks.

“It’s important you do such education in a decent language. Even if you want to correct a student, you need to do so in a decent language so that the student can understand the language and accept it in good faith. So we will do our best in that capacity,” he added.