Wednesday, January 26, 2011

KWAHU SOUTH PROJECTS ON COURSE, OMARI ASSURES (PAGE 22, JAN 26, 2011)

A COMPREHENSIVE programme has been unveiled to provide basic social amenities in almost all the communities in the Kwahu South District in the Eastern Region, especially the remote ones, this year.
The programme estimated at millions of Ghana cedis, will be jointly funded by the government and the assembly with support from development partners.
The assembly has projected to rake in a revenue of GH¢2,8835,848.53 for the execution of the projects and other social services.
Although many communities in the district have already been provided with amenities such as good roads, markets, clinics, water, electricity and other social interventions like support for farmers, there were other communities which have not yet benefited from such amenities.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Joseph Omari, said almost all the new projects earmarked for this year just like similar ones undertaken last year, were demand-driven, some of which cost the assembly only GH¢5,000.
“Almost all the projects to be executed are demand-driven, the people led by their chiefs and other opinion leaders, have appealed to us to provide them with the facilities. One of the facilities is a mini bridge on a river costing only GH¢5,000,” Mr Omari stated.
On education, the DCE said the assembly had since 2009 done a lot to improve it, adding that a number of dilapidated school buildings were to be rehabilitated while new ones would be built, especially at villages where classes were held under trees.
With regard to roads, Mr Omari said 34.6 kilometres of bad roads, especially the Adawso-Mpaem road which connects a number of farming villages and the Nkawkaw-Atibie main road, the gateway to the area, would be reconstructed.
To improve farming in the area, the DCE stated that the assembly under the guidance of the District Director of Agriculture, Mr John Nketia Gyenfi, would be training 100 farmers in 39 farmer-based organisations in modern agricultural practice for the cultivation of potatoes, yams and cassava.
Mr Omari said seeds of such crops and other forms of assistance would be given to the farmers to increase yield so that they would in turn assist other farmers in the area.
For his part, Mr Gyenfi said although agricultural extension officers were doing their best to assist the farmers in the area, the bad nature of the feeder roads, especially the Adawso-Mpaem road was having a negative effect on food production and marketing.
He was, however, hopeful that with the reconstruction of that road, the bulk of foodstuffs obtained in that area, described as the food basket of the district, would be easily marketed in the urban areas.

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