By Iddi Yire
Donkorkrom (E/R), May 03, GNA – The Government is committed to fixing roads in both the Kwahu Afram Plains North and South Districts of the Eastern Region.
Mr Isaac Ofori-Koree, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Kwahu Afram Plains North, admitted that the main highway serving the two districts from Enkye Amanfrom through Tease, the District Capital of Kwahu Afram Plains South, to Donkorkrom, the District Capital of the Kwahu Afram Plains North, up to Agordeke, was in a deplorable state; and that the Government was committed to constructing it.
He, therefore, appealed to the people in the area to have faith in the Government and that effort was underway to get the roads fixed.
Mr Ofori-Koree made the revelation in Donkorkrom in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a courtesy call on him by Mrs Offeibea Baddoo, Communication Specialist, UNICEF Ghana and Dr Tillmann L. Guenther, an Education Specialist, UNICEF Ghana at Donkorkrom, the District Capital.
The UNICEF Ghana delegation was accompanied to the office of the DCE by Mr Solomon Azubila, Education Director of the Kwahu Aframs Plains North District.
The courtesy call formed part of the UNICEF Ghana Delegation’s three-day working visit to project sites within the Kwahu Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region.
Mr Ofori-Koree told the Ghana News Agency that the Assembly would soon take delivery of road construction equipment such as a grader from the Government to enable it to undertake graveling of feeder roads within the district.
He noted that the main highway from Enkye Amanfrom to through Tease, Donkorkrom to Agordeke was under the Ghana Highway Authority.
He reiterated that for the feeder roads in the district, it was the District Assembly that takes oversight responsibilities.
“The Ghana Highways Authority does periodic maintenance of the main road from Enkye Amanfrom to Agordeke. Anything concerning the main road is under the care of Ghana Highways Authority,” Mr Ofori-Koree stated.
He said he and his counterpart, the DCE of the Afram Plains South had been working around the clock to ensure that the main highways that pass through the two Districts were fixed.
“We have sent our request to the Ghana Highways Authority, and the assurance is that initially, the Government wanted to come and construct the road and put bitumen on it, but unfortunately the Government couldn’t get enough fund that would construct the road and put bitumen on it.” Mr Ofori-Koree said.
“So, currently the Government has promised us and I am told that the machines have arrived and in the country and therefore, very soon, our District will also get a tipper truck, a new grader and a wheel loader or loader, then some other things, that the District and some Districts in Ghana are going to benefit from that.”
He said the equipment was being procured by the Government through the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Decentralisation, to be given to the various Districts.
He said the local Assembly was going to see to the operations of the machines, their maintenance and fueling for goods.
He said the equipment was going to be an interim measure to solve at least some of the road problems in some places in the district that were not motorable.
He said the central Government had the power to do the proper awarding of roads contracts.
Touching on roads leading to farming communities, Mr Ofori-Koree said it was not a hundred per cent perfect but that it was better than the main road leading to the district.
He said when the equipment comes, all the hinterlands in the District that had no access roads, it would be used to open up communities and areas that were not motorable, so that all the good items that were been locked up in the hinterlands could be brought to the District Capital, so that it could be transported to the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua and the national capital, Accra.
“My message to the people of Kwahu Afram Plains North and South is that they should rest assured, very soon, the Government is giving as equipment as a measure to do maintenance works on the roads to fix the potholes, to regravel, and reshape the places that are deplorable, so that transport can smooth on the highways and the hinterlands.”
UNICEF Ghana with funding support from The Jacob Foundation is sponsoring the “Community of Excellence Project” in both the Kwahu Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region and the Bulsa North Municipality in Upper East Region.
The pilot project seeks to improve the standards of education in the two Districts by collaborating with stakeholders to find innovative ways to promote teaching and learning, and child development in the communities.
The Jacobs Foundation is a Swiss based organisation devoted to promoting child and youth development all over the world.
GNA