Roads Minister Inspects Damaged Drains, Roads In Tamale

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has given the assurance that the government will fix all drainage systems and roads affected by last Monday's floods in the Tamale metropolis after a four-hour downpour in the Northern Regional capital.

He said the government would take immediate action to repair the damage to roads, bridges and other community infrastructure.

Mr Amoako-Attah made the remarks when he called on the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Shani Alhassan Shaibu, at his office in Tamale yesterday at the start of his inspection tour of some drains and roads affected by the floods.

Visit

The minister — in the company of Mr Shaibu, some technical staff from the ministry and roads sector agencies — later inspected the damaged storm drain at Kalariga that runs through Target to Vittin, where a fuel station had one of its underground tanks flooded, causing petrol to float on the floodwaters into the community.

Mr Amoako-Attah said the government was concerned about all areas of the country and cited the government’s response to the recent floods in the Upper West Region where roads and bridges were damaged, as evidence.

He said all resources had been marshalled in order to restore road transportation to facilitate the movement of goods and people in the Upper West Region, and that the same would be done in the Tamale metropolis and other parts of the northern sector of the country where roads and bridges had been affected.

Commendation

At the fuel station, the minister commended the management and staff for taking the necessary steps to prevent any disaster, and urged them not to sell the contaminated fuel to the unsuspecting public.

He expressed sympathy towards those affected by the floods and stated that the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) was in the process of completing its assessment in order to provide some form of relief package to the people.

Some 11 communities in the metropolis, including Vittin-Target, Fuo, Sawaba and Kalariga, were affected by the floods.