By Emmanuel Mafeah, mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
Gbarnga, Liberia- Reports from the Kokoyah Statutory District in Liberia’s central Bong County say the bridge linking Bong and Grand Bassa Counties on at the verge of collapse.
The St. John Bridge, which lies between the two Counties, is currently sinking.
Inhabitants of Kokoyah along the St. John Bridge are now living in fear due to the bad condition of the bridge.
The damaged bridge has turned to a death trap for commuters’ traveling along that path connecting Bong and Grand Bassa Counties.
A few years back, some citizens of the District lost their lives
as the result of the damage Bridge.
Despite several appeals from Kokoyah District local government officials about the damages Bridge, lawmakers including the central government are yet to intervene the situation.
The Kokoyah sub- District Commissioner Mary Kwenah is also appealing to the national government through the authorities of Bong and Bassa to reconstruct the St. John Bridge in that region.
Authorities and residents of the area say the Apha Logging and other Companies are responsible for damaging the
bridge, on grounds that they are always using heavy-duty vehicles for the transportation of their products to the port of Buchanan in Grand Bassa County.
Citizens of the District are threatening to take immediate action against those companies that allegedly refusing to refurbish the viaduct in that part of the Country.
Residents of Kokoyah Statutory District headed by the District Commissioner Mary Kwenah at the same time used the medium to call on Bong County Senator Henry Willie Yallah and members of the Bong Legislative Caucus to pressurized Apha logging and Mining Companies to recondition the damaged bridge.
Passengers crossing the harmful bridge sometimes disembark from their vehicles and motorbikes in order to cross the bridge safely.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Kokoyah Statutory District Superintendent Conteh Yallah told www.newspublictrust.com that the Apha Logging Company, Atlantic Resource and St. Africa who are using that route by mean of transporting their loges from Lofa through Bong to Grand Bassa has refused to rehabilitate the bridge on ground that they are not responsible for the maintenance of the bridge.
“The bridge was not originally designed to host heavy vehicles and, because it was not maintained, there have been several tragedies involving cars and motorcycles that have fallen into the water,” Mr. Yallah said.
According to Superintendent Yallah, officials of the three companies on many occasions have said their memorandum of understanding with the Liberian government didn’t include rehabilitations of road, bridges among others.
“Each time I engaged any of them, they always told me that they are paying taxes to the government, so the only way I think they will come in is to stop them from plying that route,” Mr. Yallah stressed.
The three companies believe that the Liberian government through Ministry of Public Works has the full responsibility of reconditioning all roads, bridges through the land and birth of this Country.