Bolgatanga, (Upper East) 24 Feb. '99,

Fifty towns and villages in the Upper East Region are to be provided with electricity under a 10 million dollar concessional grant from the Spanish Government. The project has been awarded on contract to Elecnor Engineering Company, a Spanish firm, and is expected to be completed within 18 months. Mr Simon Abingya, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, announced this in Bolgatanga when he paid a courtesy call on the Bolga-Naba Martin Abilba at the weekend. At the meeting, the Minister also formally presented to the paramount chief, three engineers from Elecnor who have arrived in the region to begin a pre-construction survey. Mr Abingya, also Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, explained that the 50 beneficiary communities were selected from the Bolgatanga, Talensi, Bongo, Kassena-Nankana, and Paga-Chiana constituencies upon recommendations of a study conducted in the region in 1994. He said 18 towns and villages in the Bolgatanga area would benefit from the package. They include Zuarungu, Kalbeong, Gambibgo, Sumbrungu, Zaarepn Yikene, Zorbisi, Yorogo, and Tindomolgo. Mr Abingya indicated that in 1990, the government embarked on a policy to extend electricity to all parts of the country by the year 2020. The programme began with the connection of the 110 district capitals to the national power grid. The first phase was successfully accomplished in October 1998 when Nadowli District in the Upper West Region, the final one on the list, got connected. "Now that all the district capitals have been served, our government's next target is the inner towns and villages, and we are determined to cover these within the stipulated period," stated the Minister. In response, Naba Abilba remarked that the government's concern for the welfare of rural dwellers has been amply demonstrated through the rural electrification project. He thanked the government for "bringing light into the lives of people in the village communities," and pledged the co-operation of people in his traditional area towards the success of the on-going electrification project in the region. Mr Abingya and his team also paid similar courtesy calls on the paramount chiefs of the Tongo, Zuarungu, and Bongo traditional areas to solicit their support for smooth execution of the contract. At Tongo in the Talensi constituency, the Tongo-Rana Kwadantii expressed his people's gratitude to the government for including 10 communities in the area on the list of beneficiaries of the power project. The chief was optimistic that with power supply, the Talensi area would witness an accelerated pace of development. He appealed to the Bolgatanga District Assembly and the MP of the area to commission without further delay, the Tongo market whose construction was completed last year. At Bongo, the chief of the traditional area, Boo-Naba Akumolga Ndow, said he was grateful to the government for the decision to extend electricity to 12 towns and villages in his area. He appealed for the rehabilitation of the Bongo-Bolgatanga trunk road to make the area more accessible.