Aiyinasi-Prestea Road would boost cocoa farming

Mr Joseph Miezah, Western Regional Feeder Roads Engineer, has said the construction of the Aiyinasi-Kwesikrom-Prestea-Nkwanta road will open up the northern part of the Ellembelle District to other parts of the country.

He said the 94 km road which was spearheaded by the sitting Member of Parliament(MP) for the area, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah would enable the predominant cocoa farmers along that stretch to have easier access to the cocoa purchasing center at Aiyinasi, a few kilometers away.

It will be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently inspected works on the northern part of the Ellembelle District at Aiyinasi, as part of his three-day accounting tour in the Western Region.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, the Roads Engineer said previously commuters had to cover 200km from Aiyinasi through Apemanim-Tarkwa to Prestea before one could get to his destination, but with the construction of the northern route to Prestea, the distance had been shortened considerably.

Mr Miezah said work on the phase one of the road from Aiyinasi-Atebabo-Asentaso is complete and the phase two which covers 16 kilometers from Atebabo to Kwesikrom, is expected to be completed in a year.

Speaking to the GNA, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, said prior to the construction of the road, communities along the northern part of the District, had been cut off completely from the rest of the District due to the inaccessibility of roads.

Mr Buah said to curtail the burden of farmers, he initiated the project in 2009 to ensure the construction of road through the cocoa growing zone.

He assured people in the area that the road network remains a major component of development and government will do its best to provide alternative routes to link all communities in the District.