Cape Coast airport promise by NPP collapsing - Residents

Residents in the Central Region, especially Cape Coast, say they prefer the creation of jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the area and not the building of an airport as promised by the Akufo-Addo government.

Speaking at the launch of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2020 Manifesto in Cape Coast on Saturday, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, promised that the Akufo-Addo government, will in its second term, build a harbour and an airport in the coastal town.

"For the people of Cape Coast, I have good news for you. We are building a new harbour in Cape Coast and a new airport in Cape Coast," he said.

Dr. Bawumia at the manifesto launch, noted that building an airport in Cape Coast, was very critical in the support of what he described as one of the country's major tourist and economic hubs.

"An airport makes a lot of sense in Cape Coast. It's a real tourist hub and between Greater Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast, you have a triangle that really is a hub for economic activities," he said.

The residents in an interview with Kasapa FM News, Yaw Boagyan, stated that building an airport in Cape Coast is a misplaced priority. Instead, what they need is the construction of factories to reduce the high unemployment rate in the region.

"There are a lot of people unemployed in this area and we need work to do, so we can feed ourselves and other dependants. For us, building an airport here is not necessary. We'll be happy if more industries are built," Ato Hayford said.

Another resident added: "Building an airport may be good but it should be a distant future vision. Of what importance will an airport be to the many people here who have no jobs and struggle to feed themselves," Araba Hayford asked.

Some of the residents suspect that their chiefs must have made the request of building an airport in Cape Coast to the President, insisting that the project is not a priority.

Meanwhile, a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Lord Mensah, has described the promise to build an airport at Cape Coast in the Central Region as unthoughtful.

According to him, travelling by road from Accra, or Takoradi to Cape Coast, would be financially beneficial than by air.

"There is an economic reason why if you travel on the road from Accra without much delay to Cape Coast, there could be some spillovers of economic activities on the highway.

"If you develop these roads instead of allowing people to fly within twenty minutes to Cape Coast, and you do feasibility studies where you give alternatives for such investments, you will come to understand that travelling on the road would be more beneficial than looking at just flying", he said.

"We are building a new harbour and a new airport in Cape Coast. It is very critical that we do," he had said.