Accra, Dec. 21, GNA - Vice President John Mahama has observed that, the proposed Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) strategic programme, initiated by government, would result in a balanced regional development, across the country.

The Vice President said the programme is already showing remarkable results, even before parliament formally enacts the Programme into law. Mr Mahama made these remarks in Ho, on Saturday, when he opened a two day SADA Parliamentary Caucus Conference, to review and fine tune the objectives of the Programmes developmental agenda into a sustainable strategic plan for the northing part of the country. ... Mr Mahama said several acres of arable lands for varied agricultural initiatives including sugarcane production has been acquired in the north under the programme.

He said the sugarcane would be processed into ethanol, which has a guaranteed market in Sweden. The vice President said the "the northern region is not poor by Nature, but for the non existence of a developmental policy for the Northern region for many decades, because the various past administrations did not do much to alleviate the poverty in the region."...

He said there was the need for a proper coordination between the SADA and the districts closer to the project, but were not captured in the programme, to ensure that the intended goals and objectives of the SADA are effectively realised.

This, he said, would lead to a balanced regional development for the benefit and interest of the Nation.

Mr Mahama said it was unacceptable that, for a country, that yearns to develop, to have 80 percent of her industries and manufacturing firms concentrated in Accra and Tema, with the Ashanti and Western regions picking only 9 and 4 percent respectively, with the rest of the country lacking any economic opportunities.

He was of the belief that when this phenomenon is reversed, the huge human migration from the regions to the south to seek greener pastures would be significantly minimised, reliving government of its associated economic and social pressures.

Vice President Mahama said the programme was very dear to the heart of government and must yield a positive result, since its one of the benchmark promises made by the NDC government. He said government laid a strategic development programme with more broad- based initiatives to capture a larger geographical coverage such as the northern part of the Volta region, which has a wider coverage than the Northern Development Fund initiated by the New Patriotic Party. Mr Mahama said it is imperative for government to create "new growth poles " to spread the development opportunities to all regions, to help generate new jobs, such as the new shea nut processing plant to be built by the Brazilian government, which would generate tens of thousands of jobs in the North .

He said government would soon unveil the Jute factory project, a SADA initiative, which would manufacture jute sacks for export, while it's with its attendant job opportunities.

Mr Mahama said he recognised the role and commitment of Parliament in pushing the SADA agenda forward and urged them to strengthen and consolidate their roles to ensure its success.

Mr Alban Bagbin, Majority leader in Parliament said the conference would address the "unfortunate lack of mainstreaming the northern territories, which were part of the colonial Gold-Coast, but was left out of the country's developmental arrangement."

"Now, with the involvement of members of Parliament, we would be better informed about the SADA strategies to enable us to translate this policy into law,"

He urged members of parliament to monitor and evaluate the SADA's implementation to enable them to review and fine tune the policy as and when necessary.

Mr Bagbin said there was the need to bring on board all stakeholders to find answers to the new challenges the SADA may bring along. He noted that, the zeal of members of all sides to see the reviewed SADA programme before Parliament was commendable, and hoped that the SADA Bill would be given "express attention". 21 Dec. 09

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