COCOBOD To Upgrade 10 Roads In Cocoa Growing Areas

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has provided GH¢18,320,727.06 for the upgrading of 10 gravel roads to bitumen surfacing in cocoa-growing areas in the Brong Ahafo Region to facilitate the speedy haulage of cocoa from the hinterlands to the ports for export.

Already, contracts for the 10 road networks have been awarded for the 48 kilometres of roads under the COCOBOD-funded roads improvement project (CFRIP), which includes the Odumase-Nkwabeng-Abuontem, Mehame Junction-Dadiesoaba, Nyamebekyere-Sankore-Boako, Sankore-Abuom-Nankate and Fiapre-Bredi-Boreso roads.

Since 2009, the government has spent GH¢147,068,179.42 on 142 kilometres of new road projects, while GH¢1,361,104.43 has been expended on 43 routine maintenance works, grass-cutting, de-silting, grading and pothole patching in the region under the highway sub-sector.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, who disclosed this in Sunyani when he addressed the end-of-year meeting of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, indicated that work on some of the roads were progressing steadily and it was expected that the projects would be completed by the end of 2012.

He mentioned some of the roads as Dormaa-Nkrankwanta, Goaso-Tepa, Hwediem-Kenyasi, Techimantia-Akomadan, Atebubu-Kwame Danso, Prang-Kintampo, Berekum-Seikwa and Menji-Banda Ahenkro, adding, ‘‘Since 2009, the government has spent GH¢187,875,759.72 on the road sector in the region.’’

According to him, the Chinese government had expressed interest in undertaking a multi-million dollar project that sought to expand the Sunyani water supply system, adding that processes were far advanced in sourcing funding from the Exim Bank of China to kick-start the project.

That project, he explained, was expected to expand the capacity of the present treatment plant to meet the 2030 water demand of the Sunyani municipality.

In addition, he said, there was a proposal to construct a dam over the River Tano at a location 2.5 kilometres upstream of the existing intake at Abesim, near Sunyani, to store water to meet the current demand and eventually address the seasonal water shortage in the area.

He said through the use of their respective common funds and internally generated resources, the municipal and district assemblies in the region had spent GH¢2,564,231.33 to provide potable water and improve sanitation and hygiene facilities and services for the people.

The regional minister announced that as of September 2011, a report from the Bui Power Authority (BPA) showed that the level of the reservoir was 136.77 metres above sea level and that the construction of the dam was 85 per cent complete.

Furthermore, civil works on the power house were 73 per cent done and the first batch of power production would be achieved by the third quarter of 2012.

Mr Nyamekye-Marfo used the occasion to urge Nananom to impress upon their people to patronise the yet-to-be-opened biometric registration by the Electoral Commission and warn them against fomenting trouble during the exercise and the actual voting process in 2012.

He again advised the people against bush burning, which he noted was primarily caused by hunters, because of their burning desire for meat, and palm wine tappers, saying that Nananom had a crucial role to play in admonishing the people generally.

The President of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi II, in his welcoming address, disclosed that currently judicial cases pending before the house were 52, comprising 44 petitions and eight appeals.

Osahene Aterkyi, who is also the Omanhene of the Kukuom Traditional Area, indicated that throughout the year the Judicial Committee of the house sat for 74 times and was able to dispose of some of the cases.