Government has fulfilled one of its major campaign promises by constructing the Damongo-Fufulso-Sawla road.
Successive governments failed in their attempt to construct the road which gained prominence in every national budget statement.
The road links the Northern Region to the Upper West Region and other parts of the country.
President John Dramani Mahama in his State of the Nation Address reiterated his administration’s commitment to complete the project which was scheduled for inauguration on August 6, 2015.
Work on the long awaited 149 kilometer stretch road began on January 2, 2012.
The road which is said to have cost $166 million was funded by the African Development Bank.
Two Chinese companies, China Waters and Electrical Corporation Limited and China Harbor and Engineering Limited constructed the road.
The companies completed the project and its ancillary facilities on schedule within 38 months.
Seventeen communities are benefiting from the other ancillary facilities such as markets, clinics, classroom blocks, teachers bungalows, public latrines and hand dug wells.
The beneficiary communities include Busunu, Fufulso, Jankura, Minpeasem, Larabanga and Kojo-Kura.
The road construction has improved the socio-economic activities of residents of communities in the western corridor of the Northern Region.
Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Highway Authority, Norbert Boniface Koamo told Citi News the contractors did a good job.
He commended government for securing the $166 million grant from the African Development Bank for the project.
He stressed the need for government to inject capital into similar ongoing projects across the country.
Norbert Boniface Koamo warned that the Ghana Highway Authority will sanction contractors under its supervision for executing shoddy works.
District Chief Executive for West Gonja, Ali Bakari Kassim on behalf of the chiefs and people of Gonjaland thanked government for the project.
He said the project’s contribution to the assembly’s Internally Generated Funds could not be underestimated.
Ali Kassim recalled that in the past only four wheel drive and heavy duty trucks could use the road.
He said the project had shortened the journey from Tamale to Damongo and beyond.
Until the road construction, the spate of Armed Robbery on the road was alarming.
Some Tourists to the Mole Game Reserve, the Larabanga mystic Mosque and also students of the University for Development Studies (WA) campus in the past suffered from armed-robbery attacks.
The West Gonja District Police Commander, ASP Opoku Agyemang Prempeh said the situation had improved.
According to him, such cases have been drastically reduced but cautioned motorists against road indiscipline.
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana