Shama District faces challenges
Members of the Shama District Assembly have identified delays in the completion of the Shama Polyclinic, bad road networks in parts of the district and rampant sand winning at the beaches as the biggest challenges facing the district.
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Speaking at the second session of the assembly, the District Chief Executive, Mr Enoch Kojo Appiah, said even though the road and the completion of the hospital remained development issues, attitudinal change remained a huge challenge.
He said sand winning at the beaches had exposed the coastline to high tidal waves but some people continued to engage in it to satisfy their selfish interests.
According to him, while the government was doing everything possible to ensure that other developmental issues were tackled, attention had to be focused on the sea defence due to sand winning activities.
“The government has to source funding for the construction of the sea defence project to protect Aboadze and the Shama stretch of the coastline,” he said.
The assembly, he said, initiated a total of 10 projects in 2013, including the construction and rehabilitation of classroom blocks, drainage and culverts, with funding from the District Development Fund (DDF), the District Assemblies Common Fund, as well as the Member of Parliament’s share of the Common Fund.
He said there was also an improvement in agriculture as the government had taken notice of the post-harvest losses mostly in the fishing communities.
The DCE said the district was a beneficiary of the government’s cold store project which was about 95 per cent complete.
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“Upon completion, it will greatly help improve the storage of fish and other sea foods, as well as contribute to food security in the district,” he said.
Mr Appiah said the Ministry of Agriculture had also informed beneficiary districts that the Northern Rural Growth Project was taking over the next phase of the Inland Valley Rice Development Project after the completion of the first phase under the Government of Ghana (GoG) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
To create solid data for development and revenue mobilisation, the assembly was pursuing street naming and property numbering vigorously,he added.
He said it was important to note that the assembly could better mobilise and map its district well when data from of all the streets and properties were well captured.
“Currently, street signposts have been mounted in all seven piloted communities,” he said, adding that “ we have reactivated the street addressing team setup under the phase I to speed up the processes.” He said the assembly had designed a medium-term development plan for 2014 to 2017,
He said between January and October 2013, the assembly received GH¢999,838.84 and spent GH¢420,906.17.