Akufo-Addo in Burkina Faso to push railway project

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to begin his two-day tour of that country, with his agenda being “to develop the initiatives that will bring prosperity to our people.”

At a State Dinner held in his honour, and responding to the remarks made by Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso, Akufo-Addo indicated that the most important of these initiatives “are the regional projects in the area of infrastructure, and especially transportation.”

According to President Akufo-Addo, “it would be, for me, perhaps, the highlight of my presidency if, indeed, I was able, together with you (President Kaboré), to launch the beginning of the Accra-Ouagadougou railway project.”

His commitment to this project, he told the Burkinabe leader, is evidenced by the fact that “right at the beginning of my government, I decided to establish a special Ministry for Railways Development in Ghana. In fact, the Minister himself is here to give testimony to the seriousness with which we look at this project.

“I would be very disappointed if the two sides are unable to find a solution to how we can get the Accra-Ouagadougou railway going”.

By the same measure, President Akufo-Addo stated that “the concern we have in Ghana, that you know about, is about the control of the water resources of our two countries”, adding that these “are matters that we are going to be able to address.”

The President was referring to the yearly opening of the Bagre Dam spillway, which causes flooding in the 3 Northern Regions of Ghana, resulting in the destruction of lives, farmlands, livestock, and property.

It is for this reason that the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Kofi Adda, MP; the Minister for Works and Housing, Atta Akyea, MP, and the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, accompanied President Akufo-Addo on his visit to Burkina Faso to find lasting solutions, with their Burkinabe counterparts, to this phenomenon, by channeling the water spilled from the dam into productive ventures for the mutual benefit of the two countries.