"Overseas" appeals for bridge over River Kulun

Katua U/W, May 28, GNA - A coalition of assembly members from the Wa East District has appealed to the government to consider putting a bailey bridge on the Kulun River, which they said was a hindrance to the socio-economic development of the area.

They said the agricultural and economic potentials of the district were inadequately exploited because there was no bridge on the river to facilitate the movement of goods and people from the district and the rest of the region.

A spokesman for the assembly members, Mr. Zato Osman, told the GNA at Katua that the district was endowed with large tracts of arable land but these were not tapped because of the inaccessibility of the area. He said the river has divided the district into two parts and as a result the people were unable to meet during the rainy season when the river was flooded.

Besides, assembly members are unable to hold meetings because they have to risk their lives on canoes to cross the river to attend meetings in Funsi, the district capital.

Mr. Osman said even though the area was the food basket of the region, its road network was poor.

"The road from Wa to the river is the shortest route to link to Upper East and Northern regions but it is always abandoned during the rainy season."

The coalition also appealed to the government to provide the district with electricity and communication facilities to promote small-scale industries to enhance the living conditions of the people.