(Baah-Wiredu pays working visit to Volta Region (Page 21)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
THE Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, has undertaken a working visit to the Volta Region to inspect the Tema-Sogakofe-Akatsi highway which is under construction.
Accompanying the Finance Minister was his Special Advisor on International Finance and Capital Markets, Dr Kofi Asamoa-Baah.
The Tema-Sogakofe-Akatsi road project, funded by the German government, is considered an important highway because it links Ghana to its eastern neighbours.
At the main construction and mixing site, the contractors assured the minister that work was progressing steadily and was expected to be completed on schedule.
Addressing the workers at the site, Mr Baah-Wiredu expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far, and urged the contractors to work harder to complete the project on time and also on the budget since the highway was one of the main arteries that linked Ghana to its eastern neighbours.
From there, the team visited the cross-border town of Aflao in the Ketu District.
During discussions, a Chief Collector of the Customs, Exercise and Preventive Service ( CEPS) and the second in command at the Aflao Post, Mr Isaac Abbey, expressed dissatisfaction with the poor state of roads in the area, especially at the Ghana side of the border.
He, therefore, appealed to the minister to use his good offices to improve the road as soon as possible since that was a major worry to long-distance drivers on transit through the area.
Mr Baah-Wiredu assured the CEPS officials that the viability of the Aflao border was of great concern to the government because Aflao was not only the largest settlement with the largest economy in the district, but also the busiest border in Ghana.
He assured them that the rehabilitation of the road would be referred to the appropriate agency for quick action, since Aflao generated a lot of revenue for the government.
On the question of staff quarters for CEPS officials, which were started in the late 1970s but had been abandoned for more that 30 years, the minister gave the assurance that there were plans to source funds from Ecobank Ghana Limited to complete the flats for the staff to help boost their morale to enable them undertake effective and efficient revenue mobilisation for the country.
Touching on the issue of seized vehicles, Mr Baah Wiredu charged the CEPS authorities to quickly auction the vehicles that had been gazetted to boost the government’s revenue.
He advised the Ghanaian custom officials to regularly liaise with their Togolese counterparts to ensure better collaboration and stem the increasing tide of smuggling between the two sides.
The team, on its way back home, stopped at the Dabala Border Post where they held fruitful discussions with the CEPS officials stationed at that post.

Picture: A cargo truck moving through the Ghana side of the Ghana-Togo border at Aflao.