Government’s road infrastructure project opens up cocoa communities in Tano North Municipality
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s road infrastructure project has opened farming communities in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region, and thereby connecting rural farmers to urban traders.
Though construction works on most of the stretch were yet to be completed, resident farmers along the roads said the on-going project enabled traders in urban centers to buy produce at the farm gates.
During road inspection visits to the area by Dr Freda Prempeh, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North, the farmers said they were excited about work on the reshaping of the roads, and however expressed the optimism contractors would speed up and complete the project.
So far, work on about 60 kilometers of roads, spread across farming communities in the municipality, were progressing steadily.
They include the upgrading of the 15.27 kilometre Tanoso-Yamfo-Bomaa as well as 7.3 Bomaa-Tepa and 13.5 kilometre Duayaw-Nkwanta-Bomaa stretches.
Dr Prempeh also inspected progress of work on the Duayaw-Nkwanta-Bredi stretch, Bourkurukuwa town road and drainage system, and Atonsu-Kobina-Maabang road.
The resident farmers said they were happy about the project because successive governments had neglected the roads, though the area remained one of the food baskets of the nation.
In an interview with Sky News Nana Yaa Tiakubira, a 44-year-old cocoa farmer at Kwasoagya, indicated the reshaping of the road in the area had facilitated easy movements of the farmers and their farm produce as well as school children.
She said most commercial drivers failed to ply the roads because of its worsened conditions during rainy seasons and consequently quantities of food produce were always left to rot in the communities.
This is because traders could not visit the communities to buy the produce, while farmers also did not have an alternative to store or transport the produce to the urban centers.
Yaw Owusu Anto, a 65-year-old mechanic and a cocoa farmer told Sky News the road project had created easy mobility and accessibility to neighbouring communities, thereby strengthening relationships.
He said because there was a bad telecommunication network coupled with the bad roads, most extended families living in separate communities were cut off from each other saying “it was always difficult to attend weddings and funerals as well as interact with family members in neighbouring communities”.
“But now we can easily visit Atonsu, Bomaa-Dwenase, and Kobina and return”, Mr Anto stated, and expressed the community’s gratitude to President Akufo-Addo.
On her part, Dr Prempeh, also the Minister of State in-charge of Works and Housing said she was satisfied with work on some of the road projects, and entreated contractors to facilitate the completion of the roads.
She said the people of Tano North Municipality had benefited immensely from the government’s projects, while she had also lobbied to help improve on water, lighting systems, health and educational projects.
Dr Prempeh indicated as the MP for the area, she would do everything possible to ensure life was better for particularly people in the rural areas, and entreated the road contractors to engage the local workforce.
Though the MP could not inspect construction of the Techire-Adrobaa-Subriso road, she indicated work on the project was progressing the last time she visited the area.
Skynewsroom
