The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency FERMA has pledged to fix the damaged bridge of Kaljanga on the ever-busy Bauchi-Gombe highway within three days.
Katagum Dailypost learnt that heavy rainfall on Sunday had caused flooding on the Bauchi-Gombe road and washed away the bridge at Kaljanga village in Bauchi State.
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. However, FERMA said it will fix the damaged portion of the road within three days.
The project site engineer, Mr Abdul’aziz Haidar, gave this assurance during an assessment visit to the site of the collapsed bridge by the Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed at Kaljanga in Bara district of Kirfi local government area of Bauchi State.
Governor Mohammed lamented about hardship which the incident will cause to the local economy and the people, calling on the Federal Government to expedite action by rehabilitating the road, he said that the road was abandoned by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Gov. Bala while responding to the representatives of FARMA, he said “We need this corridor so much, we had a dream that the new government will do the needful for us. As you said, with the engineering solution to rebuild the road. I’m happy that you have 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 from Bauchi if he is to follow appropriate channel except he passes this place.
“My worries are this road has been like this situation for many years, 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 requests, but it had not been listened to. The whole road is dead, it has been like this for many years,” Governor Mohammed lamented.
He also called on motorists and other road users to exercise patience, the Bauchi State governor pledged to come to their aid by working with relevant authorities to mitigate the effects the damage has caused.
