Mills commissions Kpandai power project

THE Vice-President, Prof. J. E. Atta Mills, at the weekend commissioned an electrification project at Kpandai in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region as part of his five-day official tour of the region which ended on Sunday.

The project was funded by the World Bank with the government of Ghana providing the counterpart expenditure and executed by Best and Crompton while engineering services and management were provided by the Volta River authority (VRA).

Speaking at a short ceremony to mark the commissioning, Prof. Mills advised the chiefs and people in the area to strive to ensure unity and peace and utilise the power supply to the area to improve their living standards.

He said the efforts of the government to improve the living conditions of the people in the rural areas will not yield the desired results if the people refuse to co-exist.

Prof. Mills, therefore, called on them to take advantage of the extension of power to the area to attract investors into the agro processing sector, since the area is predominantly a “non-traditional crop-growing basket.”

In his address, Mr. John Nuworklo, Acting Director of the Northern Electrification Project, advised the people to justify the huge investment made by the government by responding positively to the emerging economic opportunities offered by the project.

Mr. Nuworklo advised the people to practise energy conservation measures to cut down their bills.

On his way to Kpandai, Prof. Mills visited the Wulensi Secondary School which was completely destroyed during the Northern conflict in 1994.

The headmaster of the school, Mr. Wumbei Salisu, appealed for the provision of facilities to improve learning.

He said the school, with an enrolment of 476, should have run a technical department alongside its present normal secondary course but lack of facilities has hampered the implementation of the programme.

He therefore called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to speed up efforts to rehabilitate the school.

On Sunday, Prof. Mills inspected work on a ?688 million quarters to house the police at Bimbilla.

The Vice-President also called on the Pembe-Wura, Kibasibi I who informed him that about 1000 Gonjas displaced at Kpandai during the 1994 northern conflict are still finding it difficult to return due to the activities of individuals and some politicians.

The Pembe-Wura, therefore, appealed to Prof. Mills to assist the victims to return home.

He also appealed to the government to construct a bridge over River Daka to link the Salaga-Ekumdipe-Kpandai road to facilitate the movement of people and carting of foodstuff to the market.

Other places Prof. Mills visited included Nakpayi, Wulensi, Chamba, Demon and Wapuli.