Govt takes measure to improve cocoa haulage (page 47)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah (January 30, 2008)
THE government and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have jointly signed a contract with 30 road contractors for the commencement of civil works on a total of 205 kilometres of roads in six cocoa growing regions as part of the Cocoa Roads Improvement Programme (CRIP).
The contract, which covers the first phase of a three-phased programme, will be implemented between 2008 and 2010 on regional basis to help in carting cocoa to the marketing centres.
By the end of the three-phased programme, it is expected that 25.4 kilometres in the Volta Region, 54.5 kilometres in the Central Region, 54.1 kilometres in the Eastern Region and 222.5 kilometres in the Western Region would have been reconstructed. It is also expected that 152.7 of Ashanti and 92.3 kilometres of Brong Ahafo cocoa roads would be improved.
The total contract sum for the first phase programme is GH¢25.2 million.
The Cocoa Roads Improvement Programme (CRIP) is considered the first major upgrading intervention targeted specifically at “cocoa roads” and involves the bituminous surfacing of about 600 kilometres of roads at the total cost of GH¢100 million to be provided by the government and COCOBOD.
At the signing ceremony in Accra, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, said the procurement procedures covering the first phase of the programme had been completed for work to start and ensure easy access to cocoa-producing areas.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the government, in collaboration with the COCOBOD had in recent times embarked on various measures aimed at increasing cocoa production.
He mentioned some of the measures as remunerative prices and payment of bonuses, which he said had been paid six times since 2001, adding that the government had been fair in paying for their produce.
The Finance Minister also touched on disease and pest control exercises, improving agronomic practices on cocoa farms, increased value addition to cocoa, introduction of new methods in cocoa farming and sustained scholarship to cocoa farmers’ wards in second cycle institutions which currently stood at 7,500 as additional measures.
“This administration will continue to give all the needed support to the cocoa sector to ensure that it achieves its maximum potential”, he stated.
He took the opportunity to advise the contractors involved in the project "to do a good job and on time because the ministry will come tough on contractors who do poor work".
The Minister of State for Transportation, Mr Godfrey Banyo Tangu, said advertisement for the second phase of the programme which would cover additional 200 kilometres, would soon be published to enable interested contractors bid for the contracts.
He gave the assurance that funds for the project had been secured, adding that the "issue of delayed payment should not be an issue for you to delay in the execution of the contracts."
The Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Mr Isaac Osei, said the board saw the implementation of such programmes as part of its social responsibility to farmers and added that it also helped in the area of health and education by providing health care facilities and scholarships.
He expressed the hope that the implementation of the Cocoa Roads Improvement Programme would help reduce the cost of carting cocoa from the hinterlands and also help make life easier for farmers in those areas.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr Freddie Blay, expressed his gratitude to the government for implementing such a programme that would benefit cocoa farmers including people in his constituency.
The National Chairman of the Ghana Road Contractors Association, Mr J.Twumasi Mensah said since the government had given the assurance of funds being available, contractors on the projects would complete the work on schedule and also, according to specification.