Rehabilitation of cocoa roads takes off in West Region
Roads in the Sefwi area are set to undergo massive rehabilitation as the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, Tuesday cut the sod for the take-off of the cocoa roads rehabilitation programme in the Western Region.
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Most of the roads under the first and second phases of the programme are in Sefwi and they will add up to the other road projects being undertaken by the government in the area.
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is financing the national programme at a cost of $150 million annually for the next five years.
Some of the roads being tackled are the Benchema Junction-Bonsu Nkwanta, Anyinabrem-Bodi and Akontombra-Sefwi Wiawso.
Others are the Juaboso-Dadieso, Ajoafia-Oseikojokrom, Adabokrom-Camp 15 and the Sefwi Wiawso and Asawinso town roads.
Promise fulfilled
Addressing a large gathering of the chiefs and the people before the ceremony at Benchema, President Mahama said the road project was in fulfilment of a promise he made to the people of Sefwi during the 2012 election campaign to fix the bad roads in the area when he was elected President.
He said Sefwi had remained faithful to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and assured the people that the government would not let the area down.
The President acknowledged the importance of Sefwi as the epicentre of cocoa production in the country and said the area deserved the needed attention.
He promised that other cocoa areas in the region that did not benefit from the first and second phases of the cocoa roads programme would be covered in the next phases.
Touching on the cocoa mass spraying exercise, he said it was free, adding that fertiliser distribution was also free.
He asked COCOBOD to be vigilant in order to smoke out its workers or agents who would want to take advantage of the exercise.
Roads Minister
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, walked the gathering through the road projects that had been completed and those in progress in the country and said the tremendous progress made in the road sector was an expression of the government's commitment to continuously improve the living standard of the people.
Omanhene
The Omanhene of the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area, Okatakyie Kwasi Bumankamah, was full of praise for the President for the road project, saying it would give Sefwi a new look.
Massive crowds turned up to welcome the President at Asawinso and Juabeso where he also addressed durbars.
At Juabeso, he said the government would look at the prevailing circumstances to see if it could increase the producer price of cocoa by 70 per cent.