The Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Ayine Bukari, has hinted that the region may lose out on developmental projects to other regions if landowners’ and ‘Tindanas’ do not make lands available for development projects that will create jobs for the people of the region.
Mr. Bukari bemoaned the existing the land acquisition and land tenure system in the region, adding that, if the current system is not checked, investors will not be attracted to invest in the region, and government may not be able to undertake development projects there.
Speaking to Citi News in the regional capital, Bolgatanaga, Mr. Bukari said, though the region is well-positioned to benefit from numerous developmental projects and investments, the problem of land acquisition is deterring investors from the region.”
“There is a big problem with land acquisition in the Upper East Region especially in Bolgatanga, the land tenure system is just terrible. We want to put up passport office, some banks want to open their branches in the region, we want to build a regional prison, so many departments want to put up structures here, but lands for these projects have become a problem,” he said.
“This is where I am finding it difficult to be comfortable because the projects and investors I want to bring to the region when they come and there is no land for them, they pass to other regions. I can’t sleep well because of the way land acquisition is being managed in the region, it is harming us as a region and we shall lose a lot of projects if we don’t give in. But if landowners and traditional leaders agree, at least we have to demolish some structures to pave way for other developmental projects that will benefit us in the future,” he said.
He hinted that, government will soon commence the implementation of the notable ‘One Village One Dam’ and ‘One District One Factory’ policy programmes, which require more lands, and called for dialogue with all stakeholders in the acquisition of land for the development of the region.
Mr. Bukari said a committee will soon be put in place to liaise with landowners and the ‘Tindanas’ to understand why they should willingly give out lands for developmental projects, adding that they will be compensated.
He added that, the committee will also work to map up measures with key stakeholders to solve land acquisition problems.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
