Pontoon plying Kwahu North District is grounded

Agodeke (E/R), June 22, GNA - The MV Fourth Republic Pontoon that was donated to the Kwahu North District by former President Jerry John Rawlings 14 years ago has been grounded. It used to ply between Agodeke and Kpando Torko in the Volta Region and has not been operating for the past eight months due to leakages. The assembly has to spend 25 Ghana cedis fortnightly to buy fuel for a generator to pump out water that enters the pontoon to prevent if from sinking.

The District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Francis Owusu-Ansah, said when the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, inspected the pontoon at Agodeke as part of his two-day visit to the Kwahu North District at the weekend.

He said the pontoon had become a drain on the coffers of the assembly instead of generating income and that the assembly would need 417,000 euros to order spare parts from Germany to rehabilitate it. The Project Co-ordinator of the Afram Plains District Agriculture Development projects, Mr Kofi Amoako Tweneboah, told the minister that the project had decided to rehabilitate the pontoon due to its role in evacuating large quantity of agriculture produce from the district to other parts of the country.

He said a contract had been signed between the project and Ferrous Company limited to rehabilitate it and efforts were being made to sign letters of credit from the African Development Bank in Tunisia for payment to be made for work to start. Mr Ahwoi urged Mr Tweneboah to work hard to ensure early rehabilitation of the pontoon which is a national asset to serve the people in the area.