Regional News of Friday, 25 August 2006

Source: GNA

Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District catching up in development

Sawla (N/R), Aug. 25, GNA - Sawla-Tuna-Kalba (STK) District, one of the newly created districts in the Northern Region is fast catching up with the older districts in development. With prudent and systematic planning and judicious use of resources allocated by the government, the Assembly has executed a number of development projects.

The Assembly has suspended funding of new projects and focusing on on-going development projects with funds from its share of the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF), HIPC Fund and other donor sources. Mr James Kipo Sunyehzi, the District Chief Executive, who announced this at the second ordinary session of the Assembly at Sawla on Thursday, said work on the bungalows for the District Chief Executive and District Coordinating Director, a compound house for junior staff and the Assembly's Hall and offices complex, were progressing steadily. He said a Police Station at Tuna and a bungalow for the District Police Comma nder at Sawla had been completed and they would be handed over soon.

The Assembly had also extended electricity to the district health offices and centres, constructed slabs on Sawla Township drains and provided three unit chalets at Jang.

The DCE said the Sawla Post Office building had been renovated with funds from the DACF, while the Tuna Post Office building and teachers' quarters at Nakpala, as well as the Gindanbo Health Centre had also been earmarked for renovation.

Mr Sunyehzi said the Assembly had renovated a primary school block at Sanyeri with support of the Ghana Education Service (GES), who provided roofing materials.

He said three-unit classroom blocks each would be provided for Baborayiri and Yerikoi and two-unit teachers' quarters constructed at Kong, while the Assembly was making efforts to construct market stalls and shops at Kalba.

Construction works would soon commence on a two-bedroom semi-detached bungalow for staff and four-unit quarters for the Police Service in Sawla to ease the accommodation problem of workers in the district, he added.

The DCE said the Assembly received 360 million cedis from the HIPC Fund, which it used to extend water supply to the new Assembly complex and staff bungalow at Nyange, while the Sawla small-town water project was also progression steadily.

He said there were plans to provide 10 boreholes in the communities under the Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) to help reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases.

On sanitation, he said 86 household latrines had been constructed, while people had applied for construction of new ones. Mr Sunyehzi called on the people to sustain the prevailing peace in the area to enhance development.

"We should not allow politics to divide our ranks as sons and daughters of this district. After all, we are all striving to win the opportunity to serve this district and the nation as a whole," he said. He, therefore, urged the political parties to sensitise their supporters not to do anything to disturb the prevailing peace in the area during and after the forthcoming district level elections.