The government has awarded on contract a project for upgrading of some selected Sampa town roads at a sum of GHS31,823,569.78 to be completed within 24 months.
The 10-kilometre project is being executed by J. Adom Limited, a Ghanaian Civil Engineering and Road Construction Company and commenced in late July this year and comprised concrete u-drains, culverts, gravel and surfacing works.
This came to light when the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo addressed a durbar organised in his honour by the chiefs and people of Sampa in the Jaman North District as part of his two-day working tour of the Bono Region on Tuesday.
The President was pleased to learn through the welcoming address of Nana Kwadwo Magsah II, the Acting President of the Sampa Traditional Council that they were benefitting from government policies and programmes, in terms of access to education, healthcare, agriculture and security.
Responding to a number of request made by Nana Magsah, President Akufo-Addo stated that the need for the establishment of College of Education, construction of a girls’ hostel for the local Nursing Training College and a satellite campus for the University of Energy and Natural Resources slated to be sited at Suma-Ahenkro, would be looked at and addressed.
“The purpose of my visit is to listen at firsthand the concerns of the people. I don’t have to rely all the time on information delivered to me. I have to travel around the country to see at firsthand things for myself. So, any time you hear I have left Jubilee House on a tour of regions, it is to afford me the opportunity to interact with you and address your concerns,” he added.
Addressing concerns of deplorable roads in the District and the entire Bono Region on behalf of the President earlier, Mr. Kwasi Amoako-Atta, the Minister for Roads and Highways emphasised that like other equally important sectors, the government had placed premium on road projects in the country.
This is because “good roads are among the basic pre-conditions for the successful implementation of all government policies and programmes’, Mr. Amoako-Atta, also Member of Parliament (MP) for Atiwa explained.
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Minister of Health and MP for Dormaa Central took turns to respond to issues in relation to their respective sectors.
The Jaman North District is arguably the leading producer of cashew in the Bono Region, hence it was not surprising when the crowd at the durbar greeted with thunderous applause the announcement by Dr. Akoto that the President was waiting for Parliament to pass the Tree Crop Development Authority Bill to give his Assent for it to become law by the end of this year.
That law among other provisions would ensure fair and guarantee price for cashew in the country.
Nana Magsah II in his welcoming address epitomised the litany of requests for the District’s holistic development that since independence, numerous requests were made for the upgrading of Sampa town roads, but all to no avail.
“Your government in two and a half years has proven to be a promise-keeper. You have started the construction of our town roads, and we are grateful,” he concluded.
The President later inspected the on-going rehabilitation of the Sampa town roads, the 31-kilometre Sampa-Jimini road and the 30-kilometre Manje-Banda Road.
