By Nelson Ayivor
Ave – Dakpa (V/R), May 30, GNA – Residents of Ave-Dakpa in the Akatsi North District of the Volta region have raised concerns over what they described as feet-dragging by the District Assembly to commission and operationalise completed projects for the benefit of the people.
Mr Godwin Ayisu and Mr John Ahiale, president and vice president respectively of the “Voice of Ave-Dakpa,” a community watch group, who spoke on behalf of the residents, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, for some unexplained reason, infrastructure projects that have been completed for over three years now, have been abandoned and left uncommissioned to serve the needs of the people of the district.
The residents mentioned projects like: Ave-Dakpa Magistrate Court Complex and Bungalow for the district judge, Ave Traditional Council office project, AVESCO Basic School Classroom project and Ave Senior High School Bus parking shade as some of the projects which have long been completed but not commissioned.
They also mentioned the popular Ave Crocodile Resort Centre as having been abandoned for some time now, depriving the area of the needed revenue usually generated from tourist visits to the resort.
The residents wonder what the motive behind the lackadaisical attitude of the Assembly towards the commissioning of these projects could be.
“One wonders what the motivating factor for the Assembly is to refuse to commission these projects all these while – these are government projects built with state funds and are being left to rot away. It is really disturbing, and you get no answers from the authorities – those in charge of these projects,” the residents lamented.
The residents believe that “either the projects were being left to rot away to discredit the government of the day for some parochial political interests, or something is wrong somewhere.”
They appealed to the Akatsi North District Assembly to take immediate steps to commission the said projects, to serve the purposes for which they were originally built, as the area was lagging in terms of developmental projects and infrastructure for state institutions as compared to other districts and municipalities in the Volta region.
Mr Simon Peter Ofosu, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Akatsi North, in reacting to the concerns raised by the residents, told the GNA that the individuals raising the concerns and allegations were not well informed on the issues.
He said the Akatsi North District Assembly was not directly in charge of the projects being mentioned by the residents and that the projects were still in the hands of the contractors and consultants who were yet to hand them over to the Assembly for commissioning.
“In fact, Akatsi North District Assembly only has a supervisory role in the award of these projects. The projects are still in the hands of the contractors and consultants – we have been working round the clock to ensure that all impediments are removed, then a date can be fixed for the commissioning of the said projects – it is not as if we are just sitting down doing nothing,” Mr Ofosu said.
The DCE said the assembly recently met with the Ave Development Committee to deliberate on the forward march of the area and the issue of the projects came up for discussion and answers were provided.
He therefore wondered why some “faceless individuals” could go beyond the corridors of the Assembly to seek answers in the media space.
Mr Ofosu called on media practitioners to be more professional in their reportage and to refrain from one sided publication in the interest of cohesion and national development.
GNA