By Yussif Ibrahim
Obuasi (Ash), Sept. 12, GNA – The implementation of the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) could not have come at a better a better time when citizens are demanding improvement of their roads, Madam Faustina Amissah, the Obuasi East District Chief Executive (DCE), has asserted.
She said the distribution of the equipment to various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country was a game changer to see massive facelift of roads.
“This will give our people some respite from having endured commuting on bad roads for a long time.”
“They have had to endure most of the deplorable road network, and we can only thank the President and the Vice President for this bold initiative,” Madam Ammisah said at a ceremony to present the equipment.
She said work on deplorable roads in Obuasi East were expected to begin in earnest after receiving the equipment, hinting that the Ayease- Diawuoso – Jimison stretch which is a major concern to the Assembly would soon be fixed.
The equipment received included a tipper truck, water tanker, two concrete mixers, roller, backhoe, and a motor grader.
Dr Patrick Boakye Yiadom, the Member of Parliament (MP), said the arrival of the equipment was a welcome relief to him having had sleepless nights over the bad nature of some roads in the constituency.
Describing the DRIP as unprecedented intervention, the MP said it would significantly improve some internal and rural roads in the district.
He seized the opportunity to enumerate major road constructions currently ongoing in the constituency, including the Kwabenakwa – Mampamhwe road, Abusco Junction – Abusco Last Stop, Amansan – Odumase, Bypass from Kwabenafoso- Nkwadum- Seven Days, Anyimadu Street, and Bossman Town Roads, among others.
Mr. Kwabena Nsenkyire Dapaah, the Ashanti Regional Coordinator of the DRIP Programme, said the initiative was in fulfillment of the President’s pledge to ensure fair distribution of development across the country.
He added that the government recognises the need to further deepen decentralization and allow people to own development in their area hence the DRIP initiative.
Mr Dapaah said stringent measures had been put in place including the formation of committees at the district level to supervise the operations of the programme, indicating that with the acceptance of work plans from the districts, resources would be allocated immediately to work on selected roads.
GNA