Government will soon awards the Sawla-Wa Road on contract, to open up the districts in the western corridor of the Northern Region to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services.

Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, Northern Regional Minister who announced this, said government was more committed to providing adequate infrastructural development for the region.

The regional minister was speaking during the coronation ceremony of Kongwura Seidu Adamu Jinkurge, paramount chief of the Kong Traditional Area in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District on Saturday.

He mentioned the upgrading of the Tamale Airport, facelift of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, provision of potable water in the communities, construction of the eastern corridor roads, and the Sawla-Fulfuso road, as some of the development projects provided, and urged the people to maintain peace for government to implement more development projects.

He said facilities provided would help boost economic activities, improve access to health care, and enhance quality teaching and learning, among others.

Alhaji Limuna said a number of development projects had been earmarked for the Kong Traditional Area, which include the rehabilitation of a dugout, the construction of a Community-Based Health and Planning Services Compound at Kong, which was awarded on contract.

On Energy, the Regional Minister said, government was doing everything possible to fix the energy crisis, investing heavily into the sector, to address the crisis permanently.

He said apart from the energy sector, infrastructural development was on-going in the Education sector, with the implementation of the first batch of the Community Day Senior High Schools coming on-board, to benefit 367,565 students this academic year.

Alhaji Limuna appealed to the people to consider education as the surest way of overcoming poverty and deprivation, and endeavour to send their children to school to benefit from the projects.

Alhaji Isaac Dramani Mahama, District Chief Executive for Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, commended the Kong Traditional Area for the peaceful co-existence of the people.

He said the Assembly was ready to provide the needed develop support to the area, and mentioned the construction of a number of roads, the provision of boreholes and small town water systems, the expansion of the School Feeding Programme, and the connection of some communities to the national electricity grid, as some of the projects lined up for implementation.

He was, however, not happy about the illegal logging and the felling of trees for charcoal production, as well as the influx of alien Fulani herdsmen and their cattle, whose activities were causing troubles in the area.

Alhaji Mahama appealed to traditional authorities to help address the challenge, by identifying all herdsmen, their hide-outs and locations, to enable the authorities to monitor their activities.

The District Chief Executive also appealed to the people to build household latrines, to stop open defecation in the communities.