Birem cut off from District

Birem (Ashanti Region) - Birem, a farming community in the Sekyere West portion of the Afram Plains has been cut off from the rest of the district due to the deplorable nature of the 38-kilometre road linking the town to Nsuta, near Asante Mampong.

Large quantities of foodstuff are getting rotten on farms because vehicles had stopped plying the route to cart the produce to the marketing centres. Dickson Appiah, Area Council Secretary, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Asante Mampong on Friday, appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Transport to rehabilitate the road as a matter of urgency.

He said the situation had affected academic work in the area, since parents could not sell their produce to pay school fees and other expenses of their wards.

A ?38m market built by the District Assembly under the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP) was lying idle due to lack of patronage.

Samuel Kusi Appiah, District Co-coordinating Director, said the damaged bridge at Ankomadowa leading to the situation would be repaired soon.

He said the government was committed to open up the Afram Plains, which was a leading producing area of the country's major staples and appealed to the people to exercise restraint.