DON'T CHARGE EXHORBITAN FARES — OSEI-AMEYAW (PAGE 17)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Asuogyaman, Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, has appealed to commercial drivers who ply the Adomi Bridge on the Volta river not to take undue advantage of the partial closure of the bridge to charge exorbitant fares.
The MP, who was at the Adomi Bridge to see the progress of the repair works on the facility by the engineers of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), said reports reaching him indicated that several commercial drivers were exploiting passengers since the partial closure of the bridge.
The working visit was also meant to afford the MP the opportunity to meet both drivers and passengers to learn at first hand problems facing them since the bridge was partially closed.
The Adomi Bridge, which connects the south-eastern part of the country to the Volta and northern regions, was partially closed to vehicular traffic on July 12 till August 2 due to serious cracks detected on three of the steel beams supporting it.
Consequently, commercial drivers have to park at both ends of the facility for passengers to disembark and walk to the other end to join waiting vehicles.
Mostly Accra-Ho and other destinations-bound vehicles are said to charge the normal fares for the final destination only to abandon passengers at both ends of the bridge when it is closed for repair works from 9 a.m to 6 p.m each day.
According to the MP, complaints reaching him over the past two weeks since the closure of the bridge revealed that many commercial drivers had taken undue advantage of the situation to exploit the already-frustrated passengers.
The passengers, who alight at one end of the bridge to walk to the other end, sometimes spend long hours to get vehicles to their next destinations, thus becoming vulnerable to cheating drivers, Mr Osei- Ameyaw added.
He said, since the bridge was closed for repair works to be carried out, economic activities in the area had almost come to a standstill as vehicles have to wait at both ends of the facility for many hours till it was re-opened.
He, however, appealed to drivers, especially of heavy duty vehicles, to exercise patience and comply with safety measures instituted by the engineers of the GHA to ensure the safety of the bridge, saying “the Adomi Bridge is a national asset that we must all protect from collapsing”.
“To ensure our safety and that of the bridge, we must refrain from attempting to bribe policemen for clearance, especially during the night, since our actions will only endanger our safety and that of the bridge”, Mr Osei-Ameyaw added.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw commended the engineers of the GHA for the good work done so far and called on the public to co-operate with them to ensure the early completion of the repair works.
“If the Adomi Bridge collapses, it will be an irreparable damage and a big loss to the state and the Asuogyaman district”, he stressed.