Agona Swedru, Oct 29, GNA - Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko, Minister of Local Government Rural Development and Environment has cut the sod for work to begin on a GH¢5.9 million projects in the Central Region.

The projects are under the Social Investment Fund and Urban Poverty Reduction Project (SIF/UPRP), and would benefit Agona Swedru, Apam and Kasoa.

In all, sixty-three projects would be executed in the areas, which include lorry parks, markets, educational infrastructure, artisan villages, health facilities, ICT Centres, light industrial parks, drainage facilities, and meat shop among others. Addressing the gathering at Agona Swedru, Mr Adjei Darko said 12 urban towns throughout country, including the three in the Central Region, were benefiting from a 37.5 million dollars loan facility from the Africa Development Fund and another 4.2 million dollars from the Government of Ghana.

The Minister said the five-year UPRP would seek to reduce by half, a proportion of the country's poor that live on less than one dollar a day.

He said "the fight against poverty cannot be won in our life-time without the combined effort by government, the private sector and civil society".

The Minister challenged the District and Municipal Assemblies, the private sector and beneficiaries of the project to embrace the concept of the UPRP and work assiduously towards it. Mr Adjei Darko expressed the hope that the programme, aimed at reducing poverty, would unite them as one people with a common destiny, to successfully implement the project.

"Do not be distracted from the course that we have chattered for our people; we are building the broken walls of our three Towns (Kasoa, Agona Swedru and Apam), and let us do it diligently and with sincerity for posterity would judge us ", Mr Adjei Darko said.

Ms Ama Serwaa Dapaah, Executive Director of SIF said the project would improve the socio-economic growth of the poor urban settlement, through better participatory management, job creation, public/private partnership, and governance at local level.

She noted that, it would also raise livelihoods in the urban and peri-urban areas through increased access to basic quality services, income generating activities and capacity building. Ms Dapaah said the beneficial Metropolitan, Municipal and secondary towns are Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Koforidua, Ho, Tema, Akyem Oda, Wenchi, Asante-Akyem Agogo, Agona Swedru, Apam and Kasoa. She urged the local small-scale contractors to deliver quality work and on time, and assured them that they would receive advance mobilization payment to begin the work.

Mr Ben Mensah, Agona West Municipal Chief Executive, Ms Joyce Aidoo, Gomoa West District Chief Executive and Mr Solomon Abam Quaye, DCE for Awutu- Senya assured the SIF officials that the projects would be executed to serve its purpose of poverty reduction and quality living standards of the people.