President John Dramani Mahama on Friday announced that government would spend $186 million on the procurement of pontoons for all communities along the rivers and coastal areas to facilitate river and lake transport.

He also cautioned owners of boats against overloading that had over the years claimed a lot of lives and property.

President Mahama announced this when he addressed a rally at Kpandai to kick-start his political campaign in the eastern parts of the Northern Region. His move follows his conclusion of another three-day campaign tour of the Northern parts of the Volta Region, where he addressed rallies, inaugurated development projects, interacted with chiefs, party hierarchy and students in Have, Golokuati, Hohoe, Jasikan, Kadjebi, Brewaniase, Nkwanta, Kpassa, and Damanko, Dambai among other communities.

President Mahama said though lake transport had been very important for a number of communities that used them, overloading and other forms of negligence had hindered the sector and portrayed it as a negative means of transport, which government was working hard to rectify.

He appealed to electorate to avoid insults and other forms of attacks on political opponents as that could create political animosity.

The President said politics was about issues and programmes and not insults that could polarize the country on ethnic and political lines.

Mr. Joe Gidisu, Minister for Roads and Highways, promised that his outfit would use their mobile maintenance unit to upgrade all the major roads of the northern sector to facilitate the movement of foodstuffs from the farming areas to marketing centres.

He mentioned the Kpandai-Salaga and Salaga-Bimbilla roads as some of the roads that would benefit the people of the area to improve on food and cash crop production in the country.

Mr. Gidisu promised that apart from good roads that government was providing in the areas, conscious efforts were also being made to provide health, school and water projects to make them comfortable in their various communities.