West Akim Municipal Assembly vows to fight illegal mining

Asamankese(E/R), July 31, GNA – Mr George Mensah Akpalu, the Municipal Chief Executive for the West Akim Municipal Assembly, has identified illegal mining as the main obstacle to development in the area and called on all to help fight the menace.

He said the area had not seen much development and that it was disheartening to see people selfishly destroying the rich land natural resource of the area.

Mr Akpalu said this when he addressed the first meeting of the sixth assembly of the West Akim Municipal Assembly at Asamankese.

He said the Assembly suffered a debt of GH¢1,200,000 which was incurred by the previous administration and that had made it difficult for the Assembly to meet the basic recurrent expenses like sitting allowances, T&T and fuel bills.

Mr Akpalu praised the current Assembly members and the administration for prudently managing the Assembly's resources to reduce the debt to GH¢ 359,000.

He urged the Assembly to diversify its revenue collection activities in order to totally cancel the rest of the debt and also increase its reserves.

Mr Akpalu assured members of the Assembly that, his administration would see to it that all galamsey operators in the area were registered as Small Scale Miners under the Assembly, to enable them control their activities and acquire royalties to support the development of the municipality.

He said the Assembly is in partnership with Sino Star International Company Limited, a Chinese company in Ghana, to provide development facilities such as a sports stadium, rental houses, feeder roads, clinics, lorry parks and markets.

He said an amount of 50,000 dollars had been received from Bugudom Mining Company adding that the money would boost the financial base of the Assembly to construct more developmental projects.

Mr Akpalu used the occasion to thank the Assembly members for endorsing him massively to become the MCE.

GNA