GIVE PRIORITY TO UPPER WEST DEVELOPMENT — AYEBOAFOH (PAGE 44)

THE General Manager in charge of Newspapers of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Yaw Boadu- Ayeboafoh, has stressed the need for successive governments to give special priority to the development of the Upper West Region.
He said considering the level of deprivation in the region, the population of the region must not be used as a yardstick to determine the size of resource allocation for the region, adding that a special budget must be allocated for the region at all times.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh, who was accompanied by the Senior Zonal Manager in charge of the Northern Region, Mr Michael Baga, and Mr George Folley Quaye, the Upper West Regional Editor of the Daily Graphic, said this when he called on the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr George Hickah Benson, during a working visit to Wa.
Commenting on the construction of the roads, linking the Upper West and the Upper East regions, as well as Upper West and the Northern Region, the general manager bemoaned the slow pace of work, saying improvement in the road network made people feel a sense of belonging.
He advised the regional minister to liaise with his colleague in Upper East in order to facilitate the construction of the Tumu road which linked Upper West to Upper East.
“At least the artillery roads ought to be given special attention to link the region with the other regions,” he noted.
He was not happy that even though Upper West could boast of many resourceful personalities, majority of them were staying outside the region.
The regional minister said the region had seen a lot of development projects including the construction of schools, clinics, and arterial roads, since the NPP government assumed power.
Mr Benson indicated that the region, was deprived forcing about 51 per cent of the population to migrate elsewhere, a situation which calls for special attention for the region.
He mentioned some of the investment potential of the region as vast arable lands and the abundance of clay, pointing out that “the region is a virgin one whose potential is yet to be tapped”.
Mr Benson further stressed the need for a conscious effort to market the region and its investment potential as part of efforts to enhance its development.