Mavis Hawa Koomson
The Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson, has said that her ministry has started the construction of 1,000 community mechanized water system with solar pumps in the 275 constituencies across the nation.
She also pointed to 1,000 10-seater community/institutional water closet bio-digester toilets with mechanized boreholes in the 275 constituencies.
The minister, who was responding to a question in parliament on Tuesday on the disbursement of the $1 million promised each of the 275 constituencies, said there was also the construction of a 1,000-metric tonne size of prefabricated agricultural warehouse, with dryers and solar panels in selected districts of which 15 are in the Northern Development Zone, 20 in the Middle Belt Development Zone and 15 in the Coastal Development Zone.
According to the minister, there are 570 small dams and dugouts in the three Northern Regions under the ‘One Village, One Dam’ initiative of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
She told parliament that a number of projects in addition to those enumerated above had also been approved in the 2018 budget to be presented in November this year for implementation.
“The ministry is working assiduously to ensure that the development authorities become operational by August 2018 to take over the implementation of these projects being undertaken under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP). In line with that, boards of directors for the three development authorities were inaugurated by the President at the Jubilee House on Monday,” the minister said.
She continued, “Mr Speaker, let me take this opportunity to assure Honourable Members that the cedi equivalent of $1 million per constituency annually has been provided for in the 2018 budget, and would be used to finance the needed basic social-economic infrastructure in our constituencies to better the quality of life and improve on the living conditions of the populace,” the minister said.
She, however, said that GH¢1.045 billion was allocated in the 2017 budget for the development authorities but the money expired with the budget in December, 2017 because it is not a statutory fund.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr