GOVT TO IMPROVE MOLE PARK (PAGE 65)

PLANS are underway to revamp the helipad and access roads to the Mole National Park as part of measures to transform the park into a centrepiece in the promotion of pro-poor tourism in the country.
It is envisaged that renovation of those facilities would reduce the inconvenience some tourists go through to visit the park and subsequently improve on the number of tourist arrivals to the park, which stood at 13,700 in 2007.
The Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, made this known in an interview with newsmen at Damongo in the West Gonja District in the Northern Region.
This was during the inauguration of a number of facilities at the park valued at 5.8 million euros.
The Dutch government under the Wildlife Division Support Project (WDSP) of the Natural Resources Management Programme (NRMP) funded it.
The facilities included range camps comprising 60-unit 2-bedroom self-contained apartments for field staff, satellite camps and tourist facilities, and the provision of a new entrance gate and information centre.
Mrs Cofie further explained that although some work had been done to improve on some of the facilities at the park, the rehabilitation of the helipad and access roads was, stressing that work on them would begin in the “next few weeks or months”.
According to her, effective marketing of the park to the outside world was a major challenge and stated that the government was committed to the whole process.
The minister observed that her outfit “in collaboration with neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso” was critically taking a look at developing “multi-destination tourism in the Northern Region”.
Mrs Cofie equally stated that the major challenge for the country was to ensure a stronger collaboration between her ministry and the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines to effectively harness tourism resources for national development.
She emphasised that the “the immense potential of tourism and its ability to create jobs, reduce poverty and thereby improve on the lifestyles of the people in the rural communities cannot be over-emphasized”.
“Government takes its policy on pro-poor tourism seriously and I should indicate here its willingness to partner with private investors to develop the sector into a major revenue generating industry in Ghana,” she pointed out.
The Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mr Andrew Adjei-Yeboah, noted that “Mole National Park is a very important national asset with the potential to drive the cultural and socio-economic development of local communities, districts and regions round it”.
He mentioned law enforcement and ground coverage, infrastructural development and maintenance, community-based conservation, administration, planning, procurement and tourism development as key components of the Mole National Park Development Programme.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, in a speech read on his behalf by the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr George Benson, urged the Forestry Commission and management of the Park to help maintain the facilities.
The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Lidi Remmelzwaal, stated that the Dutch government was committed to supporting Ghana in her efforts to reduce the cost of environmental degradation, which was currently almost 10 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).