Government urged to develop roads linking three Northern Regions

Accra, Sept. 26, GNA - Participants at a workshop organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) have called on the Government to address the poor road network linking the three Northern regional capitals to facilitate development and growth.

In a communiqu=E9 issued at the end of a two-day stakeholders workshop in Tamale, the Association asked the Government to help to develop the basic infrastructure, including the provision of water to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services and industries to the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions.

The communiqu=E9 expressed concern about the declining fortunes of the rice industry and the collapse of mining companies and said the Government should make revamping of the rice industry a priority. "We request that Government declares the three Northern Regions as special Economic Zones and put appropriate incentives and promotion strategies in place to attract investments to the these regions," the communiqu=E9 said.

The participants resolved to form strong business associations, build their knowledge and skills base to be effective and efficient and called on development partners to commit funds into concrete investment needs of small and medium entrepreneurs.

The communiqu=E9 said in spite of the natural resources, there were constraints in the harnessing of the resources.

Notable among these are poor infrastructure development in the transport sector, particularly the road network, telecommunications, health, irrigation and other social facilities. There are also constraints on access to capital and weak entrepreneurial skills.