Hohoe, Aug. 26, GNA-Vice President Aliu Mahama on Saturday said the energy crisis that had plagued the country for sometime now would be curtailed tentatively by the close of the year where all arsenals would have been deployed.

He said it was no wonder as the energy jigsaw continues to attract lots of investors to that sector, all aimed at ameliorating the crisis. Alhaji Mahama said this during a courtesy call on Chiefs, Queens and Elders of Gbi Traditional Area at Hohoe.

He also inspected work on the GHC 1,170,000-million three-kilometre Hohoe town roads under construction.

Alhaji Mahama urged traditional leadership to take keen interest in development projects in their areas, even though they were not the authorizing institution.

He said government was concerned about the poverty levels in the country and was poised, together with development partners to reverse the trend.

The Vice President appealed to cocoa farmers in the area to revamp their farms as government in consultation with the Cocoa Board was rolling up attractive schemes for prospective farmers. Alhaji Mahama said the farmers would not only be creating wealth to boost the incomes of their families and communities but help to increase the foreign earnings of the country.

Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Volta Regional Minister said it was gratifying to note that under the government of President John Agyekum Kufour, the Bui Hydro Dam has finally taken-off after several years of neglect by successive regimes, noting that Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Lieutenant-General Ignatius K. Acheampong constructed the Akosombo and Kpong Hydro Electric Dams respectively.

He said government has thus fulfilled its second major projects it envisioned as campaign messages to Ghanaians before assuming political power adding, "NPP government was redefining governance, rule of law and democracy".

Togbe Adzofofu II, Chief of Gbi-Atabu on behalf of Chiefs, Queens and people of Gbi Traditional Area commended government for redeeming its pledge of awarding roads projects for construction in the area and making a follow-up to assess progress of work.

He appealed to the contractor to speed up work as the "potholes were becoming manholes on the roads, which was affecting mobility". He praised government for the many development projects including the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) under which the district was a beneficiary and its quest to turn-around the potential of tourism into a number one foreign exchange earner.

Mr. Castro Dela Ahorsu, Chief Executive of Survivors Construction Company, contractor on the Hohoe roads disclosed that cement shortages in recent time, a core ingredient in the construction industry affected progress on the job but promised to work harder to complete the road by February 2008.

Later, at the Hohoe Zongo, Alhaji Mahama, during a courtesy call on Alhaji Mohamed Tarudeen Meiriga, Sariki Zongo and his Elders urged Zongo communities to do away with the perception that they were strangers but collaborate with the indigenous people to facilitate development. He told them to bequeath to their children quality education as a pre-requisite for social advancement and growth.