Yeji fisheries project suspended for non-payment

Work on the Community Fisheries Centre (CFC) at Yiji has been suspended since March last year due to shortage of funds.

About 95 per cent of the work has been completed but payment certificates amounting to 499,364,398 cedis submitted to the Ministry of Finance since last October have not been honoured.

Dr Lawrence Isaaka Braimah, Project Manager of Integrated Development of Artisanal Fisheries (IDAF) said the remaining work is estimated at about 618 million cedis and appealed to the Ministry of Finance to effect payment to enable the contractors to resume work.

Dr Braimah was briefing Mr Ishmael Ashittey, Minister of State for Fisheries who inspected the projects being undertaken by IDAF.

IDAF projects were started in 1989 under the joint sponsorship of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) aimed at improving the working and living conditions of more than 75,000 families in the Yeji area.

The centre will have facilities for fish landing, handling, processing and marketing, training and social services.

Dr Braimah said IDAF assisted the department of fisheries to strengthen its role in the project through capacity building in extension services and collection and analysis of data on fishery resources.

IDAF is also operating a 2.5-acre Central Tree Nursery under a Tree Cover Depletion Minimisation (TCDM) Project funded by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

Under the project IDAF is to apply mechanisms to minimise tree resource usage through the introduction of improved mud stoves and Chorkor ovens.

Dr Braimah told the Minister that IDAF lacks laboratory to handle fish samples of more than 139 species in the Volta Lake. It does not also have suitable staff residential accommodation.

Mr Ashittey promised to do everything to ensure payment of the outstanding money for the completion of the project.