IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE ANSWER (NOV 10, 2010)

ONE of the key factors for the accelerated development and integration of any nation is the level of its infrastructure, principally its road and rail networks.
It is not in contention that the free movement of people, goods and services within the national territory is a sine qua non for sustained national development on which rests the creation of wealth to meet the needs, interests and aspirations of the nation.
It is, therefore, no accident that nations that aspire to mobilise and optimise the potential of their people and other national resources undertake massive infrastructural development, in particular the construction of roads and railways to open up their territories.
This, among others, facilitates the exploitation and easy transportation of raw and processed materials not only for the domestic market in larger and more prosperous urban centres but also for export to increase the national income.
While our governments have, over the years, undertaken some infrastructural development across the 10 regions, the level and quality in many aspects have not been such as will catapult us to the higher rungs of the development ladder.
Indeed, there are many areas of the country which are cut off from the rest of the country during the rainy season, bringing in its wake prohibitive losses in human and material terms that go to undermine national development.
Though a sad commentary on our national development effort, we are not surprised at reports that thousands of bags of cocoa and foodstuffs have been locked up in the northern part of the Western Region as a result of the poor road network in the area this year (see front page story).
Notwithstanding its status as the richest area in the country, the Western Region, paradoxically, has one of the worst road networks in the country, at least one that does not meet the socio-economic challenges of the region.
While the climate of the region, in particular the copious rainfall for a greater part of the year, is a contributory factor, the real problem has been the lack of a comprehensive and sustained programme of infrastructural development of the area over the years.
The result has been the pronounced deterioration of the few motorable roads and this, coupled with the breakdown of the railway system, has worsened the movement of people, goods and services in the area.
From such a challenging background, we cannot wait to see the government commencing its comprehensive infrastructure roll-out for the Western Region captured in the Western Corridor Infrastructural Development Programme.
This programme, which involves principally the construction of first-class roads through many areas of the region to link the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, will no doubt contribute significantly to answering this yawning and artificial infrastructure deficit.
We want to appeal to the government to expedite action on agreements with our development partners so that work on these important projects will commence sooner than later.
This should also include the northern corridor road stretching from Hohoe in the Volta Region through Bimbilla and Yendi in the Northern Region to Kulungugu in the Upper East Region.
These, together with the projected rehabilitation of the western railway line and the extension of the network to the northern part of the country, will open up the country as never before and lend a great boost to agriculture, manufacturing, agro-processing, industry, mining, commerce and other economic activities that will create immense wealth and bring millions of our people out of the quagmire of poverty, deprivation, want and misery.
This is the time.