The Chiefs and residents of Sumbrumgu, a suburb of Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, have indicated that, they will resist any attempt by government to relocate the proposed Bolgatanga Airstrip from Anateem to Sherigu.
The group has alleged that, there is a calculated attempt by the Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Bukari, and the Aviation Minister, Cecelia Dapaah, to relocate the proposed site currently at Anateem to Sherigu.
They backed their suspicion with the claim that, the Aviation Minister, led by the Regional Minister, deliberately visited aviation projects at Paga and another proposed site for the Bolgatanga Airstrip at Sherigu, but refused to visit the Bolgatanga proposed Airstrip at Anateem.
At a press conference in Sumbrumgu, Spokesperson for the group, Elias Ayinbila Apasiya, wondered why the Ministry of Aviation would want to relocate the proposed Airstrip.
They threatened to take the law into their own hands if the necessary measures are not taken.
“We insist that the Airport project should be continued…Failure to continue with the project at Anateem, we will use all legitimate means to make sure that the project is not relocated to Sherigu” Apasiya stated.
But Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Bukari, told Citi News off record that, the relocation of the airstrip to another proposed site at Sherigu, was as a result of the poor soil quality not suitable for locating the airstrip at Anateem.
“It is not the case that we just want to relocate the Bolgatanga proposed airstrip at Anateem to Sherigu, but the soil there(Anateem) is not good for an airstrip after experts conducted soil test on that site long ago, and that also accounted for the stalled works on that site for a long time.”
The proposed construction of the Bolgatanga Regional Airport which started in 1995 in Anateem, a suburb of Bolgatanga, has been abandoned after several attempts by previous governments to rehabilitate it.
The proposed Airport has a runway of 120 meters width, and a length of 3.5 kilometers.
In 2013, former president John Mahama visited the site and promised to get it rehabilitated, but since then nothing has happened.
The site has now become a grazing ground for animals with the cleared trees re-surfacing.
The roads leading to the proposed Bolgatanga regional airport have developed cracks including breakdown of culverts resulting from erosion and sand wining.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
