648KM E. REGION ROADS HANDED OVER (BACK PAGE, MAY 8, 2010)

SIX HUNDRED and forty-eight kilometres of feeder roads constructed in seven districts in the Eastern Region have been handed over to the government.
The road network, which forms part of the Feeder Roads Improvement Project (FRIP), primarily links farming communities in the Birim North, Birim South, East Akyem, Fanteakwa, Kwahu South, Kwahu North (Afram Plains) and Kwaebibirem districts.
They were constructed with funds from the European Development Fund.
Handing over the project at a colourful durbar of the chiefs and people from the beneficiary communities at Miaso in the Fanteakwa District, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Joe Gidisu, said the successful implementation of the FRIP in the seven districts would go a long way in facilitating the transportation of foodstuffs and people within the area.
That, according to him, would help alleviate poverty, in line with the government’s agenda of making life worth living for all, especially in the rural areas.
He said the European Union (EU) had also collaborated with the sector ministry to improve the road network in cocoa-growing areas in the Western, Central, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions which had significantly enhanced the evacuation of cocoa beans to the ports.
Mr Gidisu said the EU had recommended that 10 million euros be allocated for the improvement of feeder roads and approved an additional 20 million euros for the construction of the Dodo Pepesu to Nkwanta road. Besides, he said, another 83 million euros had been approved for the construction of the Tarkwa- Bogoso-Ayamfuri road.
He described the EU as a reliable partner in Ghana’s development and expressed the government’s appreciation for its support over the years.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said apart from helping to improve on the road network in the region, the EU had also assisted in other rural development projects not only in the region but in other parts of the country.
Such projects, he said, cut across education, water and sanitation, markets, micro financing and capacity building for key personnel of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
He, however, appealed to the EU to help recondition the stretch of the road linking the Akyemansa District with the Ashanti Region and the road linking the Fanteakwa and the Kwahu East districts.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Ghana, Mr Claude Maerten, said the EU assistance to Ghana was to achieve equitable economic growth and accelerate poverty reduction in the country.
He expressed the hope that the Ministry of Roads and Highways would take good care of the roads.
Osabarima Awua Kotoko 11, Begorohene and Benkumhene of Akyem Abuakwa, who chaired the function, called on the EU to continue to help improve the road network in the area.
In appreciation of the efforts by the EU and the Ministry of Roads and Highways to improve the road network in the beneficiary districts, the chiefs of the area and the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council presented traditional stools and Kente cloths to Mr Maerten and Mr Gidisu.