Government has awarded the road linking Effiduase, the Sekyere East district capital, and Kumawu to Woraso in the Kumawu district in the Ashanti region to facilitate the movement of people and goods to and from the two districts.
Five kilometres of internal roads within Kumawu have also been awarded on contract to improve the road network in the district capital.
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Kwasi Amoako Atta, who announced this at Kumawu, has assured the chiefs and people of Kumawu that the NPP government will not betray the unflinching support it has continually enjoyed from the area over the years.
Kumawu is one of the most important traditional areas in Asanteman and one of the stronghold constituencies of the governing party in the region.
The town is the capital of the Kumawu district within the plains, sharing borders with Sekyere East, Sekyere Central, Sekyere Afram Plains in Ashanti, and Afram Plains North in the Eastern region, but the inhabitants have been complaining about the poor road infrastructure in the district, particularly the main stretch that connects Efiduase-Kumawu to Woraso, and have thus been making appeals to successive governments to build to reduce their travel time and ease movement difficulties.
This is a challenge the government has accepted, for which contract has been awarded for construction.
The entire project is to be undertaken in phases, with Phase One prioritizing five kilometres of the Kumawu town roads.
It will also cover six point-four kilometres of the main road from Efiduase through Kumawu to Woraso.
Already, the project construction firm, JOSHOB Construction Company, has moved to site and begun clearing shoulders along the stretch leading directly to the Kumawu township.
In pursuance of this, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Kwasi Amoako Atta, has visited the beneficiary areas to first see for himself the nature of the road to be upgraded to an asphalted stretch and also to formally introduce JOSHOB as the contractor executing the works to the traditional authority to engender mutual trust, cooperation, and support among all the stakeholders.
The Minister was accompanied by one of his deputies, Mr. Stephen Jalulah, some of the Directors of Highways and Urban Roads as well as Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry plus the Ashanti regional directors responsible for those departments.
At a meeting with the chiefs, the chiefs unreservedly told the Minister that the NPP governments have not recognized and appreciated the area’s support for the party over the years since not much development projects in the area could be attributed to the party but expressed the hope that the story would change for the better from now on.
The Omanhene, Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, asked the Minister to commit to regular financial flow to the contractor to guarantee timely completion of the project.
Mr. Amoako Atta, showing documents to back his assertions, refuted perceptions that the government is embarking on projects to win the votes of the residents in the upcoming parliamentary by-election occasioned by the sudden demise of MP for the constituency, Mr. Philip Basoah, last month.
GBCNews gathered from the Ghana Highways Authority that the project is scheduled to be completed within a year, with the Ministry of Finance being the funding agency while the Ghana Highway Authority is to provide supervision and consulting services.
