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President John Dramani Mahama will today cut sod for the construction of airport in Ho to facilitate transportation of people and goods in the Volta Region. The airport is also to increase productivity and augment the management of medical emergencies.

This latest project, according to sources close to the presidency, forms part of President John Mahama’s drive to fulfil his 2012 campaign promises. “All along, he has promised and pledged to work for a better Ghana and to transform lives. The decision to cut the sod is to confirm his desire to change lives and transform Ghana,” a highly placed source told The General Telegraph in an interview in Accra yesterday.

The breaking of ground for the construction of the airport follows the official handing over of the site to the construction company, Falcon Crest, by Madam Helen Ntoso, Volta Regional Minister in April this year. The company is expected to define the boundaries of the Airport, mount security and sign post to secure the site from encroachment.

Mr. Samuel Kofi Diame, Chief Executive Officer of Falcon Crest, has already assured that work would be done on 1,500 acre land by December 2016. There were reports last year of some estate developers and individuals encroaching on the acquired land for the proposed Volta Regional Airport in Ho. Mrs. Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport consequently tasked the Lands Commission to define the boundaries of the acquired land and asked the Ho Municipal Assembly to protect the land from further encroachment, awaiting construction of the Airport.

Meanwhile President Mahama on Tuesday cut the sod to start work on the rehabilitation and construction of roads in the cocoa growing areas of the Western Region. The road projects, which is benefiting a number of previously un-tarred roads in communities in areas where cocoa is grown across the country, is being implemented under a new government scheme, the Cocoa Roads Improvement

Programme:

At two separate durbars at Sefwi Asawinso and Juabeso, and during a ceremony to cut the start of work on the Western Region cocoa roads, President Mahama reaffirmed his determination to significantly improve the country’s road network.

The Cocoa Roads Improvement Programme will run for 5 years with an annual allocation of ¢1 billion to improve access and open up cocoa growing areas. Sods have been cut for works to start in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions already, and according to President Mahama who spoke in the Akan language, “we are committing lots of resources to improve and expand the road network of the country, and here in the Western Region, apart from the Cocoa Roads, a number of major trunk roads are also ongoing.”

Accompanied by the Minister for Roads and Highways Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, officials of the Ghana Cocoa Board and the Roads Ministry, President Mahama said the development of town roads like the ongoing reconstruction of the Sefwi Wiawso and Asawinso town roads, urban and feeder roads would make it easier for farmers to transport their produce, and be able to reach health and educational facilities quicker and easier.

Among the roads being rehabilitated under this phase in the Western Region are:

Reconstruction of Benchima Junction – Oseikojokrom Road
Reconstruction of Prestea – Samreboi Road
Reconstruction of Anyinabirem – Sui- Bodi Road
Reconstruction of Akontombra – Bodi – Juaboso Road
Reconstruction of Akontombra – SefwiWiawso Road
Reconstruction of Enchi – Dadieso Road
Reconstruction of Daboase – Atieku Road
Reconstruction of Juaboso – Dadieso Road
Reconstruction of AntoDompem – Daboase Road
Reconstruction of Edwenase – Atobiase Road
Reconstruction of SefwiWiawso /Asawinso Town Roads
Reconstruction of Daboase Town Roads

The President also touched on concerns raised by the farmers about the distribution of fertilisers and cocoa spraying. Mr. Mahama requested the Ghana Cocoa Board to listen to the concerns of the farmers and review their operational guidelines for cocoa spraying and fertilizers. Falcon Crest Investment, a Ghanaian construction firm is to begin preliminary works at the site for Volta Regional Airport in Ho this week.