Kpone, (GAR), May 31, GNA - The management of the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCO) is providing communities through which the Gas Pipeline project passes with a number of developmental projects under its Community Development Plan. This is in fulfillment of its social responsibilities to the communities.

They are Kpone in Ghana, which has a two unit, two bedroom semi-detached bungalows, Lagos and Ogun State in Nigeria which have each benefited from a six-classroom block, and a health centre. Each project costs about 80,000 dollars, Mrs Harriet Wereko-Brobby, General Manager in-charge of Corporate Affairs of the WAPCO announced during the inauguration and handing over of teachers quarters to the Kpone Community on Thursday at Kpone to address the accommodation needs of teachers who commute from surrounding towns and villages to Kpone. She said plans are advanced to cut the sod for work to begin on another classroom block project in Benin, while Togo is yet to have its turn.

Mrs. Wereko-Brobby appealed to the communities, through which the gas project runs not to encroach on the pipeline's right-of-way to enable it serve the intended purpose.

She said after taking up the challenge to "break through the rocks," the project is about 80 percent complete and left with the land infrastructure which includes the generating stations. The General Manager indicated that the communities were allowed to prioritize their developmental needs so that they would be satisfied with the project constructed for them. The Chief of Kpone, Nii Tetteh Out, who is also the President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs expressed gratitude to the management of WAPCO for the construction of the project as it manifests their concern for the plight of the communities.

He advised the communities to safeguard the pipeline which is an international project which is of benefit to all. To ensure its prolonged lifespan, the Chief appealed to the management of the project to embark on an educational drive on its economic importance to forestall the temptation of tampering with the lines. In a speech read for him, the Tema Municipal Chief Executive, Mr David Quaye Annang urged the beneficiary communities to adopt sound environmental practices to maintain the facility and expressed gratitude to the company.

He gave the assurance that the Tema Municipal Assembly with collaborate with WAPCO for the development of the communities along the pipeline. 31 May 07