President John Dramani Mahama has hosted a delegation of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs at the Presidency in Accra.
The Delegation, which was led by Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, Paramount Chief of the Anfoega Traditional Area and President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, was at the Presidency on Thursday, July 31, to congratulate President Mahama on his decisive victory in the December 2024 general elections.
The President, together with Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, received the delegation at the Forecourt of the Presidency.
President Mahama expressed his sincere gratitude to the chiefs and people of the region for their unflinching support for him and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
With regards to infrastructure and transformational projects, the President acknowledged the critical infrastructure projects his administration had committed to during his Thank You Tour recently.
He said in the Volta region, he has outlined ambitious plans that include major road projects.
He noted that some of the road works include the completion of the Eastern Corridor Road and the reconstruction of the Ho-Denu Road.
He reiterated that all those were earmarked in the mid-year budget under the Big Push programme, which sought to invest about $10 billion in infrastructure development over the next five years.
He said many other roads in the Volta region that were not mentioned in the Big Push had been captured under the 10 km per constituency road reconstruction project.
“Every year, we will reconstruct 10 km of roads per constituency, and so in four years, we would have done 40 km,” the President said.
“I wish to inform you that all 18 constituencies in the Volta region are included in this project.
“I wish to assure you that we will endeavour to kick-start the construction in time so that we shall see completion of these roads during my tenure in office.”
Touching on the Agavedze Sea Defence Project, the President said he had inspected that project as part of his priorities and saw the destruction that the tidal waves were wreaking on the people of Agavedze and adjoining towns.
He said his party had provided relief items even in the time they were in opposition to help the people of that area.
“I went and cut the sod, and indeed, the sea has been pushed back and the brines are being put in place,” the President said.
This, he noted, would bring relief to the people on that stretch of road.
President Mahama said beyond the Blekusu Phase II project sod cutting, the other side of the coastline up to Aflao would benefit from the WACA (West Africa Coastal Areas Management Programme) Project, under a beach replenishment project of the World Bank, and that would also help to protect the coastline in that area.
He said the Ho Airport was also an iconic project, and even though it was currently underutilised for commercial flights, he had endorsed the initiative to open a pilot training school in the airport.
He said he had since asked the Ghana Airport Company to release 10 acres of land for the pilot training school to begin.
The President said he had since received a request to establish a maintenance and repair facility at the same airport to bring aircraft there for maintenance and servicing.
President Mahama said the Volta region was uniquely placed because of its vegetation, land, water and the general environment to be a major participant in the Feed Ghana Project.
“We also see the Volta region as the hub for agribusiness to process the products that we will get from the Feed Ghana Project, to process them both for domestic consumption and also for export.”
He said one of the flagship projects for which he was seeking funding from the African Development Bank was a 200,000-hectare oil palm plantation that the government intended to establish in various parts of the country.
He said there was already an initiative in the Volta region, which was called the Volta Palm Project and that the government was going to support that project as part of its objective of achieving the 200,000 hectares of oil palm in this country.
“From boosting local agriculture to stimulating industry, we are committed to ensuring that development and projects support job creation and sustainable economic growth, exactly as I promised when I visited the communities throughout the region.”
The President said that under the Market Enhancement Programme, which was being spearheaded by the Vice President, several markets across the country were going to be reconstructed, including the construction of new markets.
“And I’m happy to note that the Aflao Ashigame is going to be one of them,” he said.
“This market will enhance cross-border trade with our neighbours in Togo.”
Togbe Tepre, on his part, commended the government for the stabilisation of the cedi and bringing down inflation.
