Western Region to witness massive boost in infrastructure - Darko-Mensah

The Western Regional Minister-designate, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah has indicated that the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) will continue to implement policies and projects geared towards improving the quality of life for its citizens.

He mentioned the dualization of Sekondi-Takoradi road link, interchange at Kwame Nkrumah and Paa Grant circles, development of petroleum hub facilities in Jomoro and hosting the Western Regional Business Summit as some of the projects that would be executed in 2021.

He also mentioned the dualization of the Takoradi-Tarkwa highway, work on the Takoradi International Airport, the upgrade of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional hospital to a teaching hospital and a new Regional Hospital for Effia-Nkwanta, and the expansion of Sekondi-Takoradi water supply project as the rest of the projects to be executed.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the RCC’s outlook for the year 2021, the Regional Minister-designate explained that activities would be determined and guided by Programmes as dictated by the action plan and budget for the year 2021.

He said the RCC's budget for the year 2021 had gone through the statutory signing using the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance.

Mr Darko-Mensah further disclosed that the projected income for 2021 from the Government of Ghana (GOG) is GH¢2,350,683.6 with that of the District Assembly Common Fund as GH¢3,273,950.00.

Touching on some challenges of the RCC, he cited inadequate budgetary allocation, inadequate number of official vehicles, imparting administrative and project management activities, and inadequate residential accommodation for officers as well as chieftaincy issues.

He commended MMDAs for performing well in the recent District Assemblies Performance Assessment for 2019, which was conducted in September 2020 scoring an average of 98 per cent and urged them to strive for excellence since Assemblies get extra money when they perform better.

“The hard work of the various Assemblies helped the Government to win the polls in the Region,” he pointed out.

Mr Darko-Mensah also called on the Assemblies to work hard to support local businesses to succeed so they could also create more Internally Generated Funds (IGF) and jobs at the local level since it would help them to undertake more development projects to the benefit of community members.