Ningo bridge will be completed - JAK

Old Ningo (G/A), Aug. 6, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor has asked the Ministry of Roads and Transport to terminate the original contract for the construction of the New Ningo bridge and re-award it. He gave the directive when he interacted with the chiefs and people of Ningo/Prampram as part of his three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region.

President Kufuor said his government would not play politics with the project because a lot of money had been invested in it.

The project, estimated at 13.2 billion cedis, has been abandoned although the contractor had been paid 13.1 billion cedis. The project, which started in 1995, was to have been completed in 2001.

The Ministry of Roads and Transport says the outstanding job on the project will cost 500,000 pounds and two billion cedis.

President Kufuor noted that the completion of the bridge would bring about increased trading activities. It would also attract tourists and investors to the area, thereby generating employment. He said a new clinic would soon be commissioned to cater for the health needs of the people in the area.

President Kufuor asked the people to appreciate the National Health Insurance Scheme, adding that it would reduce the hardships of the "cash and carry system" where "if you are poor, you can't go to hospital".

The government proposes to use 2.5 per cent of worker's contribution to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust for the Health Insurance scheme.

This, President Kufuor said, would facilitate its smooth implementation. "Ghanaians should make the system a reality through their contributions," he said.

The President said the government would procure 1,000 tractors from Libya for farmers to expand their farms through a lease arrangement. He said the government had imported 2,000 outboard motors for fishermen at subsidised cost, including five beneficiaries from the Ningo/Prampram area and appealed to them to pay back the cost promptly.

In a response to a request by Nene Osroagbo Djangmah II, Paramount Chief of Old Ningo, President Kufuor asked the Minister of Education to explore the possibility of establishing an additional senior secondary school in the area.

The Chief had appealed for additional school. He also requested for the rehabilitation of the Police Post in the area. President Kufuor extended an invitation to the Paramount Chief to visit him at the Castle at his own time.