Government to construct in-land port at Buipe – Minister
Government, through the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), is to construct an in-land port at Buipe in the Northern Region.
Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, said this at the just ended Transboundary General Meeting of the White Volta Basin at Tenkodogo in Burkina Faso.
He said government’s proposed construction of railway lines from the southern sector to Paga would also help to facilitate the transportation of goods and services from Ghana to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger among others.
The three-day meeting involving Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso was among other interventions aimed at reviewing the progress made over the past two phases of the “Project for Improving Water Governance in the White Volta Basin” and the implementation of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).
The project will not only facilitate the transportation of goods and services from the southern part of the country to the north but also to the neigbouring countries, he said.
Mr Woyongo, who chaired the function, said SADA was committed to bridging the yawning gap between the north and the south using the available water resources, particularly the White Volta basin.
Alhaji Gilbert Iddi, Chief Executive Officer of SADA, said the secretariat in its quest to addressing the issue of transport cost would not relent in its effort to ensure that the project came to fruition.
‘’To this end, the SADA Secretariat is in the process of engaging technical experts to conduct feasibility studies to catapult the realization of the project since it has technical implications. When this is done, SADA will then make the necessary move to facilitate its speedy construction’’.
Alhaji Iddi noted that when the project is completed, it would help accelerate the growth of Ghana particularly the northern parts and also the neighbouring countries, stressing that the plight of farmers and traders would be addressed.
The Ghanaian delegation included Mr Musah Abudulai, Mr David Adakudugu and Alhaji Imoro, District Chief Executives from Bawku Municipal, Bawku West and Garu Tempane respectively as well as District Directors of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Forestry Commission.
Mr Abdulai, on behalf of his colleagues, said the project had made a significant impact on the people and had improved tremendously upon their livelihoods, stressing that the assemblies would continue to give the project a maximum support.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, had since 2004 been providing support to the beneficiaries for the implementation of the IWRM project.
The project, in its second phase, would end by the close of this year.
Source: GNA