Northern Region will be transformed – Mahama

Source: citifmonline.com  -  President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his administration’s quest to pursue transformational development to uplift the image of the Northern Region...

Critics of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) have accused the President of neglecting his home region which is tagged as one of the poorest in the country.

Government in its attempt to bridge the developmental disparities between the north and the south, implemented the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) programme which was bedeviled with several challenges.

But President Mahama has restated his administration’s commitment to develop the entire Northern Region to an appreciable level.

President Mahama was speaking at Yendi on the occasion of the 2015 Damba festival which brought together the Abudu and Andani Royals in Dagbon.

Among some of the ongoing projects initiated by his administration, President Mahama cited the upgrading and expansion of the Tamale Teaching Hospital. “Phase 2 of work on the Tamale Teaching Hospital is currently ongoing and when it is completed, it will make the Tamale Hospital one of the best in the country.”

He also talked about the upgrading of the Tamale Airport to meet international standard.

“A lot of infrastructural projects have been going on all over the country and the Northern Region is receiving its fair share: just a few months ago I together with the chiefs and people of this region, cut the sod for the commencement of the upgrading of the Tamale Airport into an international Airport.”

He anticipated, “this project is expected to make Tamale a major travel hub for international travel not only for the people of the Northern Region but our neighboring countries up north, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.”

“I am happy to know that work on the airport is progressing steadily, and the first phase is expected to be completed by the end of this year: we are seeking the financing for phase 2,” President Mahama revealed.

He promised to upgrade the Yendi District Hospital to serve as a major health referral facility in the eastern corridor.

President Mahama further pinpointed the Eastern Corridor Road project.

“Another major infrastructural is the commencement of work on lot 5 and 6 of the Eastern Corridor Road project, which will run from Oti Damankun, which is the border between Northern Region and Volta Region, all the way to Nakpanduri: you are all witnesses to the fact that the work has started in earnest, and we have urged the contractors to do their best and complete the project on schedule.”

President Mahama thereby asked northerners to deepen their peaceful co-existence as a prerequisite for meaningful development.

President Mahama implored the people of Dagbon to use the Damba festival as means of improving their tourism potentials to attract investors.

He reminded all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive in the region of their responsibility sustain the National Sanitation exercise.