Cape Coast residents laud president for tackling road infrastructure

The 2019 budget and economic policy of government, has received much praise and excitements from residents in Cape Coast for its resolve to tackle the road infrastructure in the former capital of Ghana.

The selected roads include; Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU), Amamoma area roads, Akotokyir roads and Cape Coast inner city roads.

Speaking to the GNA, the residents were optimistic that the construction of the road infrastructure would significantly ease the chaotic traffic congestion in the academic and tourism city.

That, they stated will reduce the stress and inconveniences in commuting within the metropolis while boosting the local economy to improve the livelihoods of the people.

Mrs Florence Asiamah, a Civil Servant, said the intervention will add to efforts by city authorities to make Cape Coast the preferred investments destination in Ghana, create employment and give enormous support to its untapped tourism potential.

She added that efforts by government to embark upon massive infrastructural development across the country should be commended and support by all.

Mr Theophilus Kofi Nyarko, a driver who ply the Amamoma route was full of excitement and heaped thunderous praises on the government for coming to their aid after years of neglect.

He said: "As drivers, we are very grateful to government for finally hearing our lonely voices from afar. We have been complaining for years but to no avail. We only hope and pray that they live by their word".

Commenting on the general budget outlook, Mr Stephen Adu-Bonsah, a Banker, commended the government and allied state institutions for sanitizing the banking sector, which waiting to collapse in the near future and plunge the country into serious debt.

He particularly praised government for stabilizing the macroeconomic sector as well as showing strong performance in revenue collection, controlling public sector wage spending and modernising agriculture.

Mrs Sarah Cabbald-Afram, a teacher, described the budget as one of 'hope and challenge' because the objective of the economic arrangement was laudable.

She said new initiatives and critical reforms with clear cut funding ideas were laid out in the financial plan and urged every Ghanaian to support it because of the benefits inherent in it.

The budget as presented by the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, was more like a state of the nation address says Mr Daniel Ayisah Hodzie, a nurse, adding that "things did not reflect the views and expectations of the layman."

"The budget looks great on paper but we are waiting keenly to witness its smooth implementation to demystify the notion that budgets are mere rhetoric and constitutional provision," he added.

But in a sharp contrast, Gloria Adoba, a petty trader booed at the Minister and expressed no confidence in the government's ability to salvage the country from the increasing levels of economic mismanagement and inept leadership.

"The budget statements are re-hutched news. There is no hope in it and nothing will change as we have heard for years".

The budget would end up like the 2018 one where most of the projections were not met because they were not realistic, adding:' The narrative does not match the actual.'

GNA

By Isaac Arkoh, GNA