By Rashid Mbugri, GNA
Tamale, Sept. 26, GNA – Madam Mavis Hawa
Koomson, the Minister for Special Development Initiatives, has said government
has established 50 preliminary warehouses with 1,000 Metric tonnes capacity
across the country to help boost agricultural production.
She said the structures are to help reduce
post-harvest losses among small holder farmers in the country.
Madam Koomson said this during a presentation
on the topic: “Assessing of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication
Programme (IPEP)” and “The Assessment of the One Village One Dam
Initiative “, organized by the Ministry of Information on the fourth
edition of the National Policy Summits (NPS) – 2018 in Tamale.
The summit was attended by the Vice President,
some ministers of state, Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies
(MMDAs), Members of Parliament (MPs), traditional leaders and other
stakeholders.
The two day summit was held to create a
platform for explaining government’s policies, outlining their objectives,
scope and specific areas that private capital was required to achieve set
goals.
Madam Koomson said the Ministry would ensure
that the implementation of government’s initiatives and the implementation of
government’s flagship projects would be done through the three development
authorities, the Northern Development Authority (NDA), the Middle Belt
Development Authority and the Coastal Development Authority.
She said IPEP is a new development approach
designed to help eradicate poverty, create jobs, infrastructural developments
and address the various forms of inequalities in the country.
Madam Koomson said it was under IPEP that each
of the 275 constituencies would be allocated with 1 million US dollars annually
to improve on government’s priority areas such as the One Village One Dam,
agriculture infrastructure (warehouses and markets), water for all projects,
sanitation projects among others.
She said the 1 million US dollars was not
meant for the constituencies to share but to use for developmental projects.
Madam Koomson said the Ministry has two
approaches for the implementation of the 1 million US dollars per constituency,
which is the ‘top-down’ approach including government’s priority initiative and
the ‘bottom-up’ for the constituents infrastructure base assessment needs.
She said government’s priority areas consisted
of the One Village One Dam (1V1D), prefabricated warehouses for the
constituencies and the constituent’s infrastructure base assessment for where
they want the initiatives to be established.
Madam Koomson said the government’s priority
projects under IPEP, which were currently ongoing across the country included
1,000 community based water system, 1,000 -ten (10) water closet toilets with
mechanised boreholes, 50 prefabricated warehouses of a 1,000 metric tonnes
capacity and 570 small dams and dugouts and one ambulance per constituency.
Making a presentation on the topic: “The
Assessment of the One Village One Dam Initiative”, she said the 1V1D was to
help curb the issue of water insecurity in the three regions of the north
through the construction of small dams and dugouts to increase access to water
for small scale activities, reduce immigration during drought season in the
north.
Madam Koomson said each small dam would have a
land area ranging between 2- 3 hectares, maximum depth of the dam would be 5
meters, length of the environment ranging between 150 to 250 meters, also with
water holding capacity of about 30,000 cubic meters tonnes.
During a question and interaction session,
some of the participants urged the IPEP to intensify and ensure community
participation through the local people to bring about effective management and
sustainability of the initiatives implemented and help bridge the gap between
the rich and the poor in the country.
They said the IPEP should put in place
measures to curb unforeseen circumstances like the over flow and spillage of
these small dams to help prevent casualties like the one that recently occurred
with the Bagre Dam spillage.
GNA