President Akufo-Addo inaugurates projects in Ahafo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Saturday inaugurated a 68-bed ward, a doctor's bungalow and a children's ward at Kenyasi Government Hospital in the Asutifi North District, and a Business Resource Centre (BRC) at Bechem in the Tano South District of the Ahafo Region.

The inauguration of the projects formed part of activities of the President's two-day visit to the Ahafo Region.

At Bechem, President Akufo-Addo said the establishment of BRCs across the country would provide assistance to private businesses with information to improve their production.

He called on the chiefs and people in the area to ensure proper management of the various facilities to ensure that future generations benefited from them.

He encouraged businesses to seek information from the facility to improve their operations and to produce quality products to attract buyers.

As part of his two-day working visit to the region, President Akufo-Addo inspected ongoing construction of projects such as the 8.7km Techire-Adrobaa road, 3.9km town roads, an astroturf at Duayaw Nkwanta and the Ahafo Regional Education Directorate at Bechem.

He also cut the sod for the construction of the Bechem-Techimantia-Akomadan road at Techimantia, and paid a courtesy call on the Omanhene of Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Area.

At Kenyase, the President said the construction of the health facilities was in response to appeals made by the chiefs and people in the area during campaign towards the 2016 general election.

He appealed to the chiefs and the people, especially the youth, to create an enabling environment for the operations of mining firm Newmount Gold Corp, saying it was playing a key role in the provision of developmental projects in the area.

Akufo-Addo inaugurates The BRC at Bechem is mandated to promote and support the national industrialisation drive and serve as a one-stop-shop for business development and investment in the area.

It is also expected to serve as information repository, which will provide a full range of world-class business development services to potential and existing entrepreneurs at Bechem and its surrounding communities.

The operations of the BRCs will be regulated by the National Board for Small-Scale Industries.

BRC projects

The Minister of Trade and Industries, Mr Alan Kyerematen, said a total of 67 BRCs were being constructed in different districts across the country.

He explained that 37 of them had been completed and were currently operating, while the remaining 30 were at various stages of completion.

Mr Kyerematen explained that the BRCs would offer support services to individuals who were interested in establishing businesses, and contribute to the one-district, one-factory (1D1F) initiative.

Benefits

He said the BRCs would also help to adopt more transformative approach to strategically integrate rural informal small-holder raw material supply base into corporate entities along various commodity value chains that had been identified to be relevant to the 1D1F projects.

Mr Kyerematen said the projects would also serve as the intermediaries to facilitate the organisation and establishment of the relationship between various actors in these value chains.

He said it was the vision of the government to establish factories and render support to private companies to expand their production or operations.

Mr Kyerematen explained that the government was aware that establishing factories was a major way of strengthening the country's economy, creating jobs and bringing development into the country.

Mr Kyerematen appealed to the chiefs to release lands for the establishment of industrial estates or parks to create opportunities for individuals interested in establishing industries.