The Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly has held a Town Hall Meeting to give residents the opportunity to present challenges affecting them and find the appropriate solutions.

It also informed the residents of the numerous development projects the Municipal Assembly was executing.

Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Takoradi, said he would work hard to bring the private sector, civil society organisations and the media together to facilitate development of the Region.

He asked residents to establish businesses in their communities to get some income to improve their living conditions.

"Come out with new ideas, send it to the Municipal Assembly, which has a committee, and it will support you to develop the project" he said.

Mr Darko-Mensah appealed to the people to take advantage of governments flagship programmes; One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, and Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), among others to better their lot.

The Minister gave the assurance that his office “will work hard to ensure that Tarkwa becomes the Johannesburg of Ghana".

He pledged to be an active Minister and work closely with all metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives to move the Region forward.

Mr Gilbert Kennedy Asmah, the Municipal Chief Executive, said in 2018, the Assembly constructed a wood village at Essaman Kakraba, CHIPS compound at Dompim, furnished newly built police stations and supplied 37,000 free seedings of cocoa to farmers.

He revealed that there had been series of discussions between the Assembly and mining companies operating within the Municipality to help develop the communities through the payment of the appropriate royalties.

The intervention, he said, would cover the construction of an artisanal village, asphalting of internal roads, and developing the 16 acre land acquired for the Tarkwa Nurses and Midwifery Training College.

The Assembly would establish a model small scale mining company to give practical training to small scale miners and also expand the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, to facilitate its operations.

The construction of the 61.50 kilometers road stretching from Tarkwa to Apimnamin on the Tarkwa-Takoradi Highway was a project dear to the Assembly, Mr Asmah said.

He noted that all efforts were being made to fix the road as soon as possible.