West Akyem Assembly builds 60 school blocks

Asamankese (E/R), April 23, GNA - The West Akyem District Assembly has within the past four years, completed 60 classroom blocks. This was made possible through various sources of funds including the District Assembly Common Fund, Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), HIPC relief and the Assembly's own internally generated funds.

Reviewing some aspects of the Assembly's performance at a People's Assembly at Asamankese on Thursday, the District Chief Executive, Mr Umar Amoah said with the limited interventions under the European Union/Government of Ghana Micro-Projects Fund and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like Obra Foundation, other schools have benefited from either rehabilitation works or new blocks.

He announced that the Assembly had made a provision of 200 million cedis for the first phase of the construction works to begin on a sports stadium for Asamankese.

On health, the District Chief Executive (DCE) said the beneficiary communities included Adeiso Health Centre, which was being funded under HIPC Relief Fund and Asamankese, where a hospital ward and a theatre were nearing completion through the Common Fund and the Mepom Clinic was being completed with funds from the Social Investment Fund.

Touching on sanitation, Mr Amoah said the situation had improved greatly, following the acquisition of a new cesspit emptier, a skip loader and a tractor with containers to haul garbage to disposal sites. On human resource development, the DCE said the Assembly had decided to sponsor the training of ten nurses each year for the next five years and increase the number of teacher trainee sponsorship from 50 to 75 for the next three years.

For human resource development, Mr Amoah said the skills training of the youth under Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP) Programme would be given more attention, while grass cutter and snail production would be integrated into the District's agricultural production programmes.

Mr Amoah said under the Community Water and Sanitation Programme, Asuokaw and Mepom would soon benefit from the Small-Towns Water Project like the one built at Adeiso.

The Assembly, he said, had already paid 85 million cedis to the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) as part of its commitment to the project.

He said following the completion of the main works at the Asamankese Market, it was proposed that the Market "B" should be re-designed into a multi-purpose plaza as part of the Second Medium Term Plan of the District Assembly.

A design, he said, was expected to be presented to the Assembly by June, this year, to enable the Assembly to take a decision on the matter. 23 April 05