The Wa District Assembly has established an industrial site at Wa at a total cost of ?420 million to resettle all artisans in the township.

Water and electricity have all been provided but the artisans are yet to move to their new location because they are not willing to pay realistic prices for the plots allocated to them.

Mr Geoffrey Bayon Tangu, District Chief Executive, said this when he opened a three-month course in soap; pomade; batik; tie and dye making for 30 unemployed youth at Wa at the weekend.

The trainees form the first batch of a training programme being organised and facilitated by the Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills (ICCES) as part of the government's mass training programme for the unemployed youths.

All the trainees registered during the government's registration of the unemployed last year.

Mr Tangu said the overriding objective of the training, which was within the framework of private sector development, was to make beneficiaries self-employed, self-reliant and self-sufficient.

He told those who would successfully go through the course to form working groups so that could apply for credit facilities from the District Assembly under the Poverty Alleviation Programme.

The DCE asked parents and guardians to encourage their children and wards to avails themselves of the ICCES training programmes since they had the potential of making them useful citizens and reducing their dependence on them.

Mr William Chemogoh, Upper West Regional Co-ordinator of ICCES, said the programme is being run at Nakori, Tibani and Brifor.

He said each batch would comprise 30 instead of the 15 proposed by the government to reduce cost.