Chorkor : Residents demand concrete bridge on Chemu lagoon

Residents of communities along the Chemu Lagoon at Chorkor are demanding a concrete bridge over the lagoon.
The current bridge constructed barely four months ago has been washed away by the rains.
The Chemu lagoon, one of the heavily polluted water bodies in the capital, joins the sea at the Chemu Naa, a suburb of chorkor in Accra.
This forms the main link allowing easy movement of persons to and from the Ablekuma South and central constituencies.
In the past
For so many years, a wooden bridge constructed by some youth in the community served as a means of passage, where commuters paid between 20-50 pesewas per crossing.
Then a new bridge was constructed on the lagoon to aid residents commute across the lagoon at ease and at no fee.
The Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu Ekuful with  support from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and innovation, constructed the  new bridge for the residents.

At a durbar to open the bridge on the 10^th January,2020, Mrs Owusu Ekuful said she took the initiative because “the previous bridge was not safe”.
According to her, there were reports of people tripping and falling into the lagoon and hurting themselves, hence the decision to approach the Minister of MESTI, Professor Frimpong Boateng.

At a ceremony to inaugurate the facility on January 10, 2020, the Environment Minister on his part, noted that the “floating bridge” was designed to withstand the pressure from the flow of the lagoon.
“The plastic barrels at the base of the bridge are filled with air and this will allow the device to either rise or fall depending on the level of the water”.

Current situation as at 27^th April 2020
However, barely four months after  construction, the bridge is now in shambles. A visit to the area showed  parts of  the bridge  had been washed away by  Sunday’s heavy rains.
Commuters across the lagoon were seen walking along slabs of wooden board temporary fixed by the youth in the area and the situation where commuters were charged a fee before crossing back.

The community members  slammed  authorities for ignoring their opinions on the project. According to them, the idea of the ‘floating bridge’ was a bad one because the facility cannot withstand the volume of water carried by the lagoon.
“We were not consulted before the project was done. The side-wall metals on the bridge started rusting some few weeks after construction because of the sea breeze. We told them to use wood instead but they wouldn’t listen to us’, one resident told this reporter.
“We don’t want any more footbridges here; we want the road constructed with a concrete bridge that would curb the difficulties we are facing over here”, another resident, Nii Ayi Kushi II, who identifies as the Family Head for Chemu Naa community at Chorkor stated.

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