The construction firm engaged by the Federal Government to fix the damaged Kaljanga Bridge on the ever-busy Bauchi-Gombe highway, Anaco Nigeria Limited, has pledged to reactivate the bridge within three days.
Heavy downpours on Sunday morning had caused flooding on a portion of the Bauchi-Gombe road and washed away the bridge at Kaljanga village in Bauchi State, thereby cutting off the northeast zone from other parts of the country.
The development has left many travellers stranded on both sides of the highway as some of them had to make a detour to alternate and longer routes to access their destinations.
The project site engineer, Mr. Abdul’aziz Haidar, gave the assurance during an assessment visit to the site of the collapsed bridge by the Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, at Kaljanga in the Bara district of Kirfi local government area of Bauchi State.
The governor lamented the untold hardship the incident will cause to the local economy and the people, calling on the Federal Government to expedite action by rehabilitating the road, which he said was abandoned by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We need this corridor so much, we had a dream that the new government will do this for us. As you said with the engineering solution to rebuild the road. I’m happy that you said you will do it within three days. Can I give you another four days to make it a week?
“This is going to affect our food security, it is going to affect our commerce, and it will deepen poverty, and that is why we are worried. We are calling on the federal government that has rekindled some hope in us, that this thing can be done quickly within the new initiative that they have on infrastructure.
“We are still calling on the federal government to look at this corridor because it is the major gateway that connects the North-East with the North-West, North-Central, and indeed the whole country, because nobody goes to Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba Yobe, Borno except he passes this place.
“My worries are this road has been like this for many years, and between Bauchi and Gombe, this was the best road we had in the North-East, but it has been neglected by the last administration. We had made a lot of pleas, but it had not been listened to. The whole road is dead, it has been like this for many years”, Mohammed lamented.
While calling on motorists and other road users to exercise patience, the governor pledged to come to their aid by working with relevant authorities to mitigate the effects the damage has caused.
