Keta residents warned

Ho, Oct. 17, GNA - Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Information and National Orientation, has appealed to citizens and people living at Keta to stop removing boulders and other structural components of the Keta Sea Defence wall.

He said such acts were endangering the 84 million dollar project and could lead to the collapse of the defence wall and subsequent inundation of Keta and its environs.

Mr Bartels made the appeal during question time at the Meet the Press series in Ho on Tuesday.

He said the police were investigating some people including an Assembly Member for removing and cracking boulders mounted in the walls for other purposes.

Mr Bartels said the project was a very expensive one and should be maintained to make the huge investment worthwhile.

Other issues raised by journalists included the state of relationships between the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) and the districts on the one hand and chiefs some of whom claimed they were not being consulted on developmental issues. The journalists also wanted to know about developments at the Juapong Textiles Ltd., the Aveyime Rice Project and cocoa rehabilitation.

Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Volta Regional Minister said relations with chiefs were cordial and that a few might not be happy about projects they demanded for their areas, but which had not yet been provided. He said all was being done to revive the Aveyime Rice Project and that some investors had indicated interest in it. On the Juapong Textiles Ltd., the Minister said VLISCO, majority shareholders, no longer considered it to be viable and had pulled out and that government had bought its shares and was facilitating the resumption of production soon.

He said the investment climate in the Volta Region was good, mentioning a cassava project for the production of ethanol as one of the latest investments in the Region.

Journalists the Ghana News Agency spoke to said in future more time should be allotted for follow-up questions to enable them to reflect public concerns about issues exhaustively.