Njaba Bridge may collapse before December if…
2 min read
The ever busy Njaba Bridge which is along Orlu Owerri Road in Imo State may collapse anytime from now if something technically serious is not done urgently. According to the eyewitness account by a team of Umuka Times reporters who visited the bridge, one part of the bridge, the side built by Imo Rescue Mission under the former government of Rochas Okorocha had been completely closed because of its fragile nature. Gully erosion has totally washed away a batter part of the bridge and may affect the other side soon.
From the horrifying pictures taken by Umuaka Times, there were three dangerous spots on the bridge that have caved in and are most likely on their last stages of collapse.
When Umuaka Times sited the presence of a local contractor who was working on the bridge with his workers, the man refused to speak with the team of reporters from the online newspaper on the deplorable condition of the bridge after the reporters had introduced themselves to him. His refusal to speak did not deter the reporters who stylishly engaged him in an official conversation. During the conversation, the man lamented that the problem of the bridge started when sand excavators blocked the drainage which channeled the erosion directly into the Njaba River and made way for their tippers to have access to the sand excavation site through the bank of the river. This according to the engineer resulted to creating stagnant water on the bridge which takes so many days to dry after a heavy downpour.
The engineer told Umuaka Times during the conversation that the only work to save the bridge from collapsing as soon as possible would be to stop the sand excavators and redirect the erosion back to its channel.
