By: Yusuf M Hasan
BURAO (Somalilandsun|) – The good and safe service provided motorists and residents of Togdeer, Sahil, Sool and Sanaag regions by the main bridge in Burao are about to end.
This sad outcome is due to the poor structural condition of the Italian funded bridge built 36 years ago by a Chinese construction firm that is now to get out of hand owing to the pounding of powerful waves of fast moving waters flowing through the Togdeer-“Long valley” whose waters are diverted to the various regions of Somaliland at the bridge.
The Burao based bridge which is one of the few existing public infrastructure left intact after the prolonged civil war of the eighties and early 90’s between SNM and Somalia national army has seen various destruction meted by pounding waters and the new menace of garbage disposal in its over three decades of service that have also gone without any iota of maintenance by both the many local and central government’s that have managed affairs in Burao local council and nationwide in Somaliland since 1991.
According to a hadhwanaagnews report the Togdeer regional governor Mohamed Muse Diriye accompanied by the regional police and custodial corps commanders as well as in-house engineer made an inspection tour at the bridge upon which they not only pledged to facilitate reconstruction but appealed for help from the central government and international partners as well.
With a country where over 1500kms of asphalt roads are serviced by five bridges 2 each in Hargeisa and Burao town it is urgently imperative that something be done and done sooner rather than later as a prelude to not only averting the said disaster in the making but assuring a historical monument is there to stay.
View more pictures of the prevalent status of the bridge provided by hadhwanaagnews
