Regional News of Monday, 16 August 2010

Source: GNA

Chinese delegation visits adopted communities in Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa

Breman Asikuma C/R) Aug. 16 GNA - An eight-member Chinese delegation at the week-end visited the three communities the Chinese government has adopted in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District of the Central Region to explore areas their government could offer assistance.

The communities are Fosuansa, Kokoso and Amanfopong.

The delegation, led by Mr Liw Yitao, deputy head of the Foreign Capital Project Management Center, under the auspices of the Chinese State Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, met with the chiefs and people of the communities.

They were accompanied by the district chief executive of the area, Mrs Georgina Nkrumah, officials of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Community Based Rural Development Projects officers.

Members of the Breman North Area Council conducted the delegation round the various committees to assess damages caused by soil erosion, and visited some tourist attraction sites.

Addressing the people after introducing the officials to them, Mrs Aboah informed them that the Chinese Government had adopted the area to implement a-two-year pilot Poverty Alleviation and Community driven Development Projects there.

She said the area was selected among six districts in the country after completion of a questionnaire sent to them through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural development, last year.

According to the DCE, some of the projects to undertaken are the construction of educational infrastructure, town roads and drainage. There would also be development of tourism sites, agriculture and other economic ventures that would help reduce the poverty rate in the communities.

The effective implementation of the project would depend largely on the cooperation of the beneficiary communities, Mrs Aboah said.

Mrs Aboah commended the initiators of the project and the Ghana-Chinese governments for selecting the district for the programme and gave the assurance that the district Assembly would offer their maximum support and cooperation towards its successful implementation.

On the forthcoming 2010 Population and Housing Censes, Mrs Aboah advised the people to massively get involved in the exercise to enable the government to get correct data on the area.

The success of the exercise in the country will help government to plan properly and formulate policies based on the accurate data of the census towards the development of the country, she said.

Mr Yitao, leader of the team, assured the district assembly and the people in the three communities of his government's determination to make the project a reality and called for the cooperation of the people.