WORK TO START ON REGIONAL HOSPITAL AT TEPA (PAGE 20)

WORK on the Ashanti Regional Hospital is set to begin at Tepa, the Ahafo-Ano North District capital.
Contractors for the project have visited the site earmarked for the modern facility and are mobilising equipment to start the project.
According to the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ahafo-Ano North, Mr David Addai Amankwah, “work would begin soon.”
The Ashanti Region has no regional hospital so the new hospital when completed, would go a long way to help improve health delivery in the region.
President Mills, in his State of the Nation address to Parliament in January, this year, announced the government’s decision to construct the regional hospital at Tepa.
The Tepahene, Nana Adusei Atwenewa Ampem, has allocated a large tract of land for the project as part of his commitment to seeing to the successful execution of the project.
Mr Amankwah, who was speaking at the first ordinary meeting of the assembly at Tepa, appealed to stakeholders of the project to play their part by ensuring that the project became a reality.
He said the establishment of a health assistants’ training school at Anyinasuso, had also boosted the district’s image but indicated that efforts needed to be made to find residential accommodation for the staff.
The DCE disclosed that the district assembly owed contractors GH¢1.4 million from contracts awarded between 2007 and 2008 adding that internal debt on other commitments also amounted to GH¢ 40,808.
Mr Amankwah said the debt was likely to impact on the assembly’s development agenda as it would have to look for money to pay for part of the debt.
He said what had aggravated the situation was that the assembly’s internal revenue generation had not been good and as a result, it had to rely mostly on the central government for funds to execute development projects.
Mr Amankwah stated that the assembly had started serious work on the internally generated revenue, adding that there was hope that some gains would be made as the years rolled on.
The DCE expressed concern about the activities of chainsaw operators, which were compounding the problem of deforestation.
He called for concerted efforts to address the problem before it reaches uncontrolled proportions.