By Kweku Abdallah
Takoradi, Feb. 6, GNA – The Western Nzema Youth Leaders have reiterated their unflinching support to the petroleum hub project in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
The Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC) was established by an Act of Parliament in 2020 to promote and develop a petroleum and petrochemical hub in the country.
The project, which formed part of the strategic development initiatives of the government to promote socio-economic growth and strategically position the country as a hub for the petroleum downstream industry in the West African sub-region, was established at Bonyere in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
However, there had been reports that some sections of the Nzema people, especially the youth, were not in support of the project and were heavily kicking against its progress.
But the Nzema youth, in a statement issued and signed by its leader, Dr. Patrick Ekye Kwesie, expressed dismay at what they described as a deliberate effort by “detractors of development” to influence people against the project.
“It is a shame to see Nzema being influenced to fight against development. we want to ask, are we not ready to witness accelerated development?”, they quizzed.
“As decerning youth of western Nzema, particularly Jomoro, home and abroad, we wish to state emphatically that, we wholeheartedly support the government’s flagship project, which is being sanctioned in Jomoro,” the statement added.
The youth have thus advised the leadership of the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation to work hard to avoid conflict of interest in all phases of the project from procurement, engineering, and construction.
The statement urged the leadership of the PHDC to come up with a Health and Safety Policy as that was absent in the brochure, they shared in their last engagement with the people at Nkroful.
It also stressed that the youth were ready to engage the Ghana Gas Company in Atuabo on the air quality and flaring and venting of Gas.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PHDC told the GNA that the Corporation had been undertaking periodic interactions with the people of Bonyere on the progress of work in setting up Africa’s first Petroleum and Petrochemical Hub in the Jomoro enclave.
He said the Government was committed to ensuring that the investment made in the project saw the light of day and indicated that several operational activities had been completed in the acquisition of the 20,000-acres land required for the project.
GNA