In this regard, he has directed the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to strictly enforce the axle load regulations to protect bridges from collapse.

“Vehicles that overload and use our bridges will no longer be tolerated and no amount of intervention from any quarters will also be tolerated, " he emphasised.

Mr Amoako-Atta made the declaration after he had inspected the Yapei and Buipe bridges, all in the Central Gonja District in the Northern Region yesterday.

He was accompanied by one of his deputies, Mr Anthony Karbo, the Director of Bridges at the ministry, Mr Yakubu Koray, and the Northern Regional Director of the GHA, Mr Joseph Atsu.

Axle loading stations

The minister noted that axle loading stations had been set up at both ends of the Buipe and Yapei bridges to prevent overloaded vehicles from using them.

He, therefore, called on the axle load operators to ensure that drivers plying that route complied with the measures.

“Let me reiterate that any driver arrested for overloading would be made to face the law,” Mr Amoako-Atta stated.

The minister bemoaned the unpatriotic acts by some people whom he said had been stealing the bolts and knots that held the crash guards on the bridges together.

He entreated residents to volunteer information to enable the security agencies to arrest the perpetrators.

Assurance

Mr Amoako-Atta assured the motoring public that there would not be a total shutdown of the Buipe and Yapei bridges for the next two years following the extensive rehabilitation works that were carried out on them last year.

He said the government was sourcing funding for the construction of two new bridges to replace the existing ones which were constructed around the same time in the 1960s.

According to the minister, the government spent about GH¢4 million in the rehabilitation of the bridges and commended the contractors for the good work done. Mr Koray said the Bridges Division of the ministry had written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for assistance to help them enforce the axle load regulations to protect the Yapei and Buipe bridges.

The bridges, which link the south to the north and Ghana to its Sahelian neighbours, were closed to vehicular traffic from November 22 to December 22, 2017, causing inconveniences to the motoring public.