Paga Airstrip to be reopened - President

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the Paga airstrip in the Kassena-Nankana West District would be reopened after recommendation by a team of technical experts.

He said a technical team had been put in place to examine the two proposed places, Sherigu in the Bolgatanga Municipality and Paga, for the most appropriate place to site an airport for the Region.

“Very soon that technical team will be coming up here, and looking at the situation, the appropriateness, fitness, the security implications of having an airport here in Paga close to the Burkina Faso border and also the possibility of one in the Bolga area.

“When the technical work of the team is over, recommendations will then be examined by government before a final decision would be made. But you know I have a soft spot for Paga, so your request would be definitely considered.”

The President said this in response to a request made by the Paga Pio, Pe Charles Awia Awampaga II to reopen the Paga airstrip, when he addressed a durbar of Chiefs and people of Paga and Chiana in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region to climax his two-day tour of the Region.

The President noted that “There appears to be two demands for an airport in the Upper East Region, one in this area which is modernization and upgrading of the Paga airstrip, and another in the Sherigu area near Bolgatanga.”

Apart from the airstrip, President Akufo-Addo also assured the people of the area of the construction of a stadium saying “This is a town that has given Ghana many sporting heroes, and none very significant than my very good friend Abedi Pele.

“So nothing will give me greater pleasure than to initiate such a development and name a sports stadium here in Paga after Abedi Pele.”

Touching on the need for an airport in the area to buttress his request, the Paramount Chief said “This is the only aircraft landing facility in the Upper East Region that can be used as emergency security intervention by enabling the country to move troops in case of terrorists incursion from neighbouring Burkina Faso which is currently under attacks.”

Pe Awampaga II said apart from security, “This internationally recognized airstrip from the colonial era will also facilitate easy commercial, medical and tourists movement across the country.”

He acknowledged that the District had benefited from some of government’s projects and policies such as the Free Senior High School, adding that a newly constructed District Assembly block for government business was almost completed.

According to the Chief, “The good and practical intentions by the NPP under President Akufo-Addo to open up our District with the Paga–Kayoro–Katio feeder roads, and the Paga-Mayoro feeder roads which are now under construction is laudable”

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“For these and many other projects, the people of the Kassena-Nankana West will forever remain grateful to the NPP government. We wish and pray for the completion of these projects and hope for more in the near future when the NPP is given a second term.”

President Akufo-Addo ended his tour of the Region and has since left with his entourage to continue his nationwide tour in the Upper West Region.