Fanteakwa District to benefit from Rural Enterprise projects

Begoro, July 14, GNA - The Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region is to benefit from the second phase of the Rural Enterprise Projects (REP) currently under way to reduce poverty in the rural areas. This brings to two, the number of districts in the Eastern Region to benefit from the project, the first been Afram Plains, which was taken on board last year.

Launching the project at Begoro on Tuesday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah, in a speech read on his behalf, said the government would continue to put in place viable and sustainable programmes to improve the well being of the citizens.

He said this would be done not out of political expediency, but based on the desire to develop "a rational and pragmatic approach to solving the country's problem".

Mr Barimah cautioned the supervisors of the project to be prudent in managing the implementation process such that they would avoid replicating the urban environmental problem that had become a major problem for the government.

The Project Co-ordinator, Mr Kwasi Atta-Antwi noted that the success or failure of the project intervention in the District would be a clear manifestation of the level of commitment of the District Assembly in terms of the requisite material and human resources that would be made available for the project activities. He reminded the people that as the REP was aimed at improving the lives of the people, they should be seen to be making efforts to get out of poverty but not to expect miracles.

Mr Atta-Antwi warned that the project would be withdrawn from the District if it became clear at any point in time that full co-operation of the District Assembly and other stakeholders, including the projects clients, were not forthcoming.

The acting Fanteakwa District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Ebenezer Ofoe Caesar, urged women to pursue the project with the seriousness it deserved since they constituted the majority in the small and medium scale business sector, not only in the rural set up, but in the nation at a whole.

He pledged the District Assembly's support to the project to ensure that it succeeded in the District.

The Koforidua Zonal Co-ordinator of REP, Mr Kwasi Amankwah, said an estimated 29.2 million US dollars was to be spent in the project in 53 districts nationwide this year for a project period of eight years. He said there would be a structured implementation period of four years of direct support per each district, adding that eleven old participating districts were being weaned off.