The Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has urged chiefs in the Western Region to release lands to government for projects which will open up the region to investors.
This she said will fast-track the region’s development, noting that the acquisition of lands for some proposed airstrips and airports in the region has become a challenge.
Speaking at a meeting with the Western Regional Minister, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie and his Deputy, Eugenia Kusi at Sekondi, Mrs. Dapaah appealed to the minister to engage the chiefs in the region on the need and urgency to release lands for government projects.
She said “we will plead with you to talk to the chiefs. The Ghana Airports Company Limited started talking to some chiefs. It was fine until they started asking for monies. When we are talking about the projects, they were demanding for monies. That project is halted due to this.”
“The Chiefs must bear with us. At this stage, there is no money to advance to any chief. When the project comes on, it stays in the community. They should release the lands for the collective good of society. If they put impediments in our way, its stalls development, it prevents investors from coming, and then we have a problem.”
Mrs. Dapaah explained further that, chiefs in the Western Region would have to emulate chiefs in other parts of the country who have been generous with their lands. She said several thousands acres of land have been released in other parts of the country to help the ministry’s vision of opening up the country.
“…So we have the Regent in the north giving us 12,000 acres of land without any financial considerations. All they tell us is to ensure we protect the land from encroachment. The Asantehene Otumfour Osei Tutu has similarly released some 26,000 acres of land for the ministry. It is for the collective good of society.”
Mrs. Dapaah and her deputy, Dr. Kobby Otchere Darko Mensah, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Catherine Ablema Afeku, and some top officials of the Aviation Ministry, as well as the Ghana Airports company limited, were on a day’s working visit to the Western Region.
They inspected proposed sites for a Takoradi Airport at Princess Town, as well as other proposed sites for airstrips and helipads across the region.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
