Mr Donatus Atanga Akamugri, the Upper East Regional Minister says the construction of an airport in the region will open the area and Ghana for accelerated development and economic improvement.
According to the Regional Minister, Upper East Region was well positioned for an airport considering its proximity to the Sahel region and reiterated the commitment of government to construct the airport as promised to boost investment and development.
Mr Akamugri made this assertion when he accompanied some technical officials from the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) to tour the proposed site for the Upper East Regional Airport at Anateem, a suburb of Sumbrungu community in the Bolgatanga Municipality.
This was a week after the President John Dramani Mahama during his “Thank You Tour” of the Bolgatanga and reiterated his commitment to realise the project and directed the GACL to secure funding for the project. The visit of the officials was to ascertain first-hand information about the proposed site to inform their work on bringing the project to fruition.
The processes to construct an airport in the region started in the late 1970s and early 1980s when about 2,888.72 hectares of land was earmarked at Anateem for the project. Several technical evaluations and feasibility studies have been done on the site to ascertain the suitability of the place for the airport project.
However, despite several promises, successive governments have not been able to bring the project into reality after more than 40 years, leaving the locals frustrated and disappointed. The Regional Minister during the tour noted that if the airport was constructed in the region, it would significantly impact on every sector ranging from security, agriculture, businesses to the mining sector, among others.
Mr Akamugri noted that the region was strategically located, bordering two major countries namely Burkina Faso and Togo, adding that an airport in the region would not only serve the people of Northern Ghana but would also serve people from the other neighbouring countries.
This, he said, would not only boost local businesses and attract visitors in the form of tourism, but would generate foreign exchange for the country, attract investment and create jobs for the teeming youth. “In terms of security, we need this facility to be able to move security personnel into the region and at the right time to be able to respond to emergencies and also help those who find it difficult to move on land to move faster,” he said.
The Regional Minister indicated that the region was becoming a mining hub with mineral deposits dotted across several communities, disclosing that at least seven districts out of the 15 municipal and districts in the region had gold deposits and measures were being taken to explore them.
He said the construction of the airport would not only help to boost mining activities in the region, which would create job opportunities for the residents but would help the mining companies to transport their gold safely devoid of armed robbery attacks on the road. “We therefore call on all stakeholders to support this project to ensure that the project is realised,” he appealed.
Source: GNA
