The Federal Government is to build a concrete bridge over the Wase Waterways in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State as replacement for the recently collapsed Wase Bridge in the State, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, has disclosed.
Fashola, who spoke in Abuja on Monday when he met with the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong, said the Government would meanwhile provide a short term relief to facilitate movement among the communities disconnected as a result of the collapse.
The Minister, who said the temporary relief would be undertaken by the Federal Controller of Works in Plateau State in collaboration with the State Government and Chairman of Wase Local Government, added that the new concrete bridge would be a long term solution to the perennial problem which the bridge had suffered as a result of heavy rainfall.
Explaining that the design of the bridge would take his Ministry’s design team about eight weeks to complete, the Minister, however, added that the final implementation of the concrete bridge plan would depend on the availability of fund.
The Director, Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry, Boade Akinola in a statement said, Fashola commiserated with the Government and people of Plateau State over the collapse of the bridge, which was as a result of a heavy downpour, and commended the Governor for his quick response to the natural disaster pointing out that the Governor put a call to him as soon as the incident occurred which enabled him to schedule the meeting.
“Our intention is to do a design with a new concrete bridge across the waterways and that will take us about eight weeks going by the design team of the Ministry”, he said.
In his response, the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong, thanked the Minister for scheduling the meeting within a short notice and assembling the relevant departments with the view to finding short and long term solutions to the problem adding that he was motivated to call the attention of the Minister immediately due to the extent of damage to the Bridge.
The Governor, who was full of gratitude to the Minister for the outcome of the meeting, explained, “Because of the level of damage on the bridge and the importance of the bridge to the State, I quickly put a call to the Minister to which he responded by calling for this meeting. I thank him for the time line given in addressing the issue”.
