UNTIL 2004, the Kwahu South District, covering a land area of 1,876 square kilometres with its capital at Mpraeso, was made up of two other political entities, the Kwahu West and Kwahu East Districts.
The large land size contained big towns such as Mpraeso, the district capital, Nkawkaw, a big commercial centre, Abetifi, Kwahu Tafo, Obo and Nkwatia, as well as numerous smaller communities with a total population of approximately 216,307 (2003 estimates).
Due to the large land size and population, it was almost impossible to provide most of the social amenities such as potable water, school buildings and roads for the numerous communities, although previous administrations since 1992 did the best in that respect.
It, therefore, became necessary to carve out two new districts, Kwahu West (2004) and Kwahu East (2007) from the mother district (Kwahu South), whose land area currently stands at 1,462 square kilometres with an estimated population of 82,240.
That initiative as expected, started to yield good results with the provision of more social amenities made up of big projects such as schools and construction and rehabilitation of roads that required heavy financial outlay.
The provision of these high-cost amenities which takes at least one, two or more years to complete, although necessary, were not the priority needs of the people.
They rather preferred the assembly to provide them with mini projects such as foot bridges, rehabilitation of hand-dug wells and clinics, or rehabilitation of schools which cost between GH¢2,500 and GH¢30,000 per project.
It is in this direction that on assumption of office, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Joseph Omari decided to give priority to the construction of these small projects in many communities.
Some of the projects are a foot bridge over the Ntutuagya stream linking two different parts of Mpraeso, roofing and walling of wells to prevent the water from being polluted, which cost as low as GH¢2,000 per well.
Others are an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre with a library attached at Mpraeso, rehabilitation of the Twenedurase Community Clinic, cladding of the Roman Catholic primary school classroom blocks at Osubeng and Koranteng, 10 and eight-seater KVIP public places of convenience at Nketepa and Atuobi, respectively and the rehabilitation of a hand-dug well at Obo.
“The assembly is providing these minor facilities after consultation with the people in the affected communities and assembly members have been given the mandate to supervise construction work in the localities where a project cost less than GH¢5,000, to ensure their early completion”, Mr Omari stated.
According to the DCE, because the total development of the district could be achieved with the provision of other big projects such as the reconstruction or rehabilitation of roads, school buildings, the assembly with the support of the government and donor agencies such as DANIDA, had started some of such projects.
Some of the projects are the rehabilitation of the Mpraeso/Atibie town, the Bepong-Ntomeng, Asakraka-Asikam and the Obo-Aduamoa roads, all of which are being funded with part of the assembly’s share of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund under the Local Service Delivery and Governance Programme currently being supported by DANIDA.
Big projects in the education sector, including the rehabilitation of a number of junior and senior high schools, some of which have been completed and re-inaugurated.
The projects included the Atibie A.K. Islamic JHS and the Asuboni JHS all of which cost GH¢80,000 and funded by the Millennium Development Authority (MIDA), the Obo Anglican Primary and Bepong District Assembly Primary Schools and the Adawso JHS.
Sanitation is also being vigorously tackled with the clearing of heaps of refuse that had not been removed for years at Mpraeso, Atibie, Bepong and Asakraka.
The most significant aspect of the sanitation drive is the involvement of Zoomlion Ghana Limited which regularly sprays the affected areas, including slaughter houses which have also been provided with mosquito nets.
With regard to poverty alleviation, the assembly has decided to sponsor some students to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to study ceramics and allied disciplines, after which the assembly would set up a subsidiary company to be managed by the KNUST products to produce burnt bricks and blocks on a large-scale for the building industry at either Obomeng or Bisease which have large deposits of clay.
It is expected that the engagement of the youth in bricks and blocks production, as well as in ceramics will go a long way in reducing unemployment in the area.
Farming is being boosted and some farmers, some of who supply foodstuffs for senior high schools in the area are being assisted by the Millennium Development Agency (MIDA) in capacity building and loans, particularly in irrigation.
Already, a lot of young men have taken the opportunity to engage in large-scale pepper cultivation at Akwasiho, one of the major farming communities.
Tourism is another sector that the assembly has decided to tackle because the picturesque landscape of the district (it contains most of the mountains on the Kwahu Scarps) has made it a tourist destination.
One of the mountains, the Odwen Anoma is noted for paragliding with seasoned paragliders from countries such as South Africa , the United States, Canada and France, demonstrating their skills during the Easter period, is to be further developed with modern receptive and recreational centres.
This is because the sport had put the area and Ghana on the world tourism map.
Other facilities to be improved with receptive facilities are the beautiful rocks with the formation of a crocodile at Amate, waterfalls at Obomeng, Kwahu Amanfrom and Oworobong as well as the historic route from Nkawkaw to the top of the mountains through which the Kwahus migrated from the Asante Kingdom centuries ago.
With the completion of most of the social amenities, the development of the tourist attractions and the empowerment of the people to generate more income for their livelihood to reduce poverty, it is expected that the area would in the next few years not only be one of the best in terms of social amenities, but also a tourist haven in the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment