A stitch in time, they say saves nine, but certainly, this is not the reality in our part of the world, Ghana.
Having a facility built with taxpayers’ money and leaving it to deteriorate is painful and one would ask, why have we relegated maintenance culture and sense of urgency in fixing fast-deteriorating public infrastructure to the background.
Way back in school, say, high school, we were taught maintenance culture in social studies, but it is very evident it was a waste of time. Take a look at the abandoned Komenda Sugar Factory. It can serve as a source of massive employment for the youth, but has been left to rot in glory. That is a story for another day.
The Achimota overhead bridge is deteriorating, with the concrete gradually shedding off underneath it, exposing the iron rods used for the construction.
Now, this is a life-threatening situation that needs attention urgently. Looking at the state of the bridge, it is obvious that the heavy-duty trucks are the culprits, passing under the bridge with their vehicles filled to the brim with load; hence scratches the bridge.
I took a closer look at the situation recently, and I became more terrified as a user of that stretch of the road.
In my quest to find out whether the attention of authorities had been drawn to this situation, I was disappointed to realise that a number of media houses have carried such reports, but the situation persists.
Speaking to some other road users and some residents around, this is what they had to say; “it is very scary, because, if this situation is not fixed, a great disaster would befall us”.
“I wonder if those who constructed the bridge did not measure the heights of the trucks because it seems it’s too low for them (trucks)”.
Now, it brings me to my everyday question, should it always be the case that until there is no casualty, there cannot be any pro-activeness? Imagine the disaster that would occur if this bridge should be left in its current state; much longer; lives and properties would be lost.
I think it is just relevant that the various political elected leaders in the communities go round occasionally to keep their eyes on the facilities that have been put up for national use to ensure they are in good shape, instead of waiting till it is reported, then your competencies are being questioned. Let us work!
If we think due to busy schedules we cannot be on the field ourselves, employ the services of professional facility managers. Now, that would bring up another question of how many of these people do we have in the country?
To maintain our facilities in the country, I think our narrative ought to change into championing professional training of facility managers in the country.
To sustain the likes of the one district one factory policies, these professionals will do a great deal to help keep the facilities in shape, so there would not come a day when all the monies spent on these projects would go to waste like some infrastructures have been abandoned.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways, the National Road Safety Commission, and other relevant institutions should take the necessary steps to avert the impending disaster NOW, NOT LATER.
