Sekondi, Jan. 15, GNA - Ninety (90) million dollars out of the 750 million raised from the Eurobond has been earmarked for the rehabilitation of the Western and Eastern Railway Lines, President John Agyekum Kufuor, announced in Sekondi on Tuesday.

This, he said, would be undertaken in partnership with the private sector.

President Kufuor, who was addressing the seventh edition of the Peoples' Assembly held at the Sekondi High School, said the restoration of the lines should assure the mining companies in the Western Region, especially the bauxite and manganese mines of reliable railway system to support the expansion of their operations.

Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, some senior Government Ministers and Officials were present at the Assembly, which had as its theme: "Ghana after 50: Looking into the Future with Hope." President Kufuor said the Government had taken the initiative to correct the situation where the Western Region, the richest Region in terms of natural and mineral resources, was ignored in the past. It has embarked on an aggressive road construction programme to open up the Region and to transform and integrate it into the nation's socio-economic development.

The length of its paved roads covering, trunk, feeder and urban network has more than doubled from a total of 520 kilometres in the year 2000 to 1,096 in 2005.

This figure would definitely go up when the data for 2006-2007 are finally collated.

Unpaved roads also increased to 6,546 kilometres in 2006 from 829 kilometres in 2000.

President Kufuor said added to these, the Takoradi Port was also undergoing modernization and physical expansion to improve its capacity to handle larger volumes of local and foreign business, especially those from neighbouring landlocked countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Other happy developments such as the completion of the West Africa Gas Pipeline, which has a major terminal in Sekondi-Takoradi, and the discovery of oilfields, were coming together to make the Region even more attractive destination for local and foreign investors. He said with all these, the future was bright and that the Western Region should soon come to its own again.