REHABILITATION OF 6 NORTHERN REGION ROADS COMPLETED (PAGE 43)

WORK on six out of the 32 road projects earmarked for rehabilitation under the Northern Region Flood Reconstruction Programme, has been completed.
The projects include the rebuilding and construction of culverts to facilitate the free flow of water, construction of roads, and improvement in water supply and sanitation situation in the region.
The projects are located in 12 districts of the region that were hardest hit by the floods in 2007.
The World Bank (WB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) are jointly funding the projects at a cost of $2.814 million. The WB provided $1.5 million while the IFAD made available $1.3 million.
The Regional Economic Planning Officer, Mr Gregory Addah, and the Community-Based Rural Development Programme (CBRDP) Engineer at the Regional Planning Co-ordinating Unit (RPCU), Mr Kwaku Boateng, made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Tamale.
They mentioned the completed roads as Machayilli-Wala, Chereponi-Gbong, Chereponi-Wenchiki, Jimli-Tijo, Sambu-Machayilli and Pwalugu-Arigu.
The officers further indicated that four of the projects were more than 90 per cent complete and would soon be handed over to the respective communities.
According to them, the projects are located in Tolon-Kumbungu, Savelugu-Nanton, Nanumba North and South, Saboba, Chereponi, Yendi, Zabzugu-Tatale, West Mamprusi, Central Gonja, Karaga and Gushiegu districts.
At a stakeholders meeting to evaluate the state of projects that were affected during the 2007 floods in Tamale on March 26, 2009, participants in the meeting agreed to facilitate the termination of contracts awarded but whose work seemed to be either abandoned or slow.
Other contracts were given new scheduled dates of completion after they were reviewed by the meeting.
Some engineers at the meeting, however, explained that progress of work on some of the projects delayed because at a point in time they were revised to ensure that the issue of flooding in some of the communities was resolved permanently.
During an assessment of the flood situation in October 2007, by stakeholders including development partners, it was realised that an estimated GH¢98.25 million was needed to reconstruct facilities that were destroyed by the floods in the three northern regions.
Northern Region alone required GH¢51.27 million while the Upper East Region needed GH¢27 million and Upper West GH¢20 million to help repair damaged facilities.
Reconstruction efforts are needed in such sectors as roads, water, sanitation and hygiene, provision of shelters and sustainable livelihood programmes.
According to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in the Northern Region, the 2007 floods claimed 20 lives while 224,226 people were displaced and 9,707 houses were destroyed while 82,730 acres of farmlands food crops and livestock were washed away by the floods. A total of 1,499.7 kilometres of roads were destroyed cutting off some communities. Also, 22 health facilities and 18 school structures were damaged by the floods.