President Akufo-Addo cuts sod for Kogina-Akoti road construction

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has performed the ceremony for construction works to begin on the 24.3 kilometre Kojina-Chirano-Etwebo Akoti Road - an economically important road in the Western Region.

The project would cost GH41 million cedis and allow for smooth evacuation of gold, cocoa and other farm produce from the area.

It is expected to be ready within 24 months and the job is being undertaken by Messrs Volta Impex.

The President, who is on a three-day official visit to engage with the chiefs and people in the region, to gauge their felt-needs, underlined the commitment of his Government to improve the road infrastructure to act as catalyst for economic growth.

He said they would keep faith with Ghanaians - live up to their expectations.

"I am fulfilling a promise to fix the bad roads particularly in this northern part of the Western Region to open up the area for more and more economic activities".

He added that they were on course to delivering on every campaign promise they made, citing the free Senior High School (SHS) policy, restoration of nurses' and teacher training allowance and other social interventions.

The government was determined to build a society that worked for everybody – to make the economic situation of the people better.

President Akufo-Addo touched on illegal mining (galamsey) and rallied chiefs in the mining areas to give strong backing to the fight to stop the illegal activity.

The galamsey fight was aimed at protecting water bodies and degradation of arable lands.

He said measures had been put in place to streamline activities of licensed small scale miners and hinted at lifting the ban on small scale mining soon.

Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi, President of the Regional House, expressed excitement about the road project and said when completed it would tremendously improve the economic lives of the people.

He gave the assurance that they were going to closely monitor every stage of the construction to make sure that the contractors did quality job so that there would be value for money.

Okogyeman Kwaku Gyamprah III, Omanhene of the Sefwi-Chirano Traditional Area, said they were grateful to the government for the project.

It would bring huge relief to farmers – make it easier to transport their produce to the cities and urban centres, to sell and make money to take care of themselves and their families.

He appealed to the government to move quickly to complete a Community Day SHS in Chirano.