The federal government has deployed a team of engineers to collate relevant data and investigate possible causes of the collapse of Artisan Bridge in Enugu state and come up with a solution to restore it.
The Director of Information, Ministry of Works, Blessing Lere-Adams, in a statement issued Saturday said the failed bridge is located on a subsisting project — which is the rehabilitation of Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway, Section III: Enugu – Lokpanta in Enugu State, adding that the project was still ongoing.
She noted that the Minister of Works, Sen David Umahi visited the site of the collapsed artisan bridge a day after the information of it’s collapse reached the Ministry
Lere-Adams noted: “Consequently, a team of Engineers were deployed to the affected Bridge location so as to collate relevant data, and investigate possible causes of the collapse and come up with a solution to restore the failed Bridge.
“It has been recommended by the engineers on site that the entire collapsed span be demolished, redesigned and re-constructed to avert future occurrences and loss of lives.”
Lere-Adams added that the affected bridge was constructed in the late 1970’s, stressing that the collapse took place on Wednesday 27th September, 2023.
She explained that the minister visited the site to assess the extent of damage and to also proffer immediate solution to quickly assuage the suffering of both motorists and commuters plying the bridge.
Lere-Adams said the minister assured that the federal government was doing everything humanly possible to reconstruct the bridge with better quality local content materials which he had been tested and could stand the test of time of long period of usage and longevity of up to 50) years with no maintenance when built with Concrete technology.
Also, the Governor of Enugu state, Peter Mba, expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for the immediate response to access the collapsed bridge situation with the visit of Umahi.
