Fixing cocoa roads with cocoa money
President John Dramani Mahama recently undertook a working visit to the Ashanti and Eastern regions primarily to launch the Cocoa Roads Rehabilitation programme in the two areas.
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He also inspected work on the ongoing Tepa District Hospital project and inaugurated a new recreational centre in Kumasi.
Six regions - Ashanti, Eastern, Central, Western, Brong Ahafo and Volta - constitute the cocoa regions of the country.
Over the years, however, these regions have not benefitted much from road infrastructure financed directly with cocoa money.
The government, through the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), believes the time has come for things to be put right.
The mission of COCOBOD, which is "to encourage and facilitate the production, processing and marketing of good quality cocoa, coffee and sheanut in all forms in the most efficient and cost-effective manner, and maintain the best mutual industrial relation with its objectives", cannot be fully realised without good road infrastructure in the cocoa-growing areas.
The importance of good roads in the cocoa industry can hardly be underestimated.
Cocoa and good roads
The saying that cocoa is the heartbeat of Ghana's economy still holds true in spite of the discovery of crude oil and the revenues from mining.
"Cocoa is Ghana and Ghana is cocoa," so the saying goes. Cocoa is Ghana's second leading foreign exchange earner, constituting about 30 per cent of all revenues from exports.
In Ghana, about 70 per cent of the population live in the rural areas, with a sizable number of them being cocoa farmers.
Consequently, projects to boost the production of the crop cannot be downplayed by the government and managers of the cocoa industry.
The communities deserve good transport infrastructure, including motorable roads to boost their socio-economic activities, and to advance the industry as a whole while boosting the national economy.
Good roads in the cocoa-growing areas will certainly facilitate the evacuation of cocoa beans from the producing areas to the ports as well as the movement of people and food crops in those areas.
The rural areas' role as a development pole can hardly be overemphasised, but that role is sometimes hampered by lack of good roads, especially in cocoa-growing areas. Some of the roads go from bad to worse when it rains, making them impassable.
Roads are indisputably a necessary ingredient of socio-economic development, a situation that imposes a duty on the government to provide the finances to put them in good shape.
Experience
As the son of a cocoa farmer, I appreciate the enormity of the problems our farmers go through daily with regard to the bad roads.
Growing up in my hometown, Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region, in the 1970s, I used to travel with my father to his cocoa farm in a village called Gambia, about 40 km from Goaso and I came to terms with the terribly bad road.
Today, although road infrastructure in some cocoa areas have improved, there is more to do to get to the expected destination.
It was, therefore, welcome news when the President announced in his 2015 State of the Nation Address to Parliament that the Cocoa Roads Rehabilitation programme would take off this year.
Cocoa roads programme
The $750 million programme is meant to fill the gap in road infrastructure in cocoa-producing areas in Ghana.
It is the single biggest road infrastructure project to be financed by the Ghana Cocoa Board.
Spanning over five years, COCOBOD is setting aside part of its profits ($150 million) every year for five years to finance the reconstruction of selected roads in cocoa-growing areas.
The following roads in the Eastern Region are undergoing partial reconstruction under the first phase of the programme.
They are Asamakese-Suhum; Adeiso-Asamankese; Osenase–Akwatia; Koforidua–Bunso; Apedwa-Kyebi–Bunso and Kyebi town roads.
Other projects are the rehabilitation of Suhum town roads, construction of selected roads at Asamankese, and bitumen surfacing of Noyem-Winso-Amuana–Praso, Mangoase–Kukua, Chia-Brenase–Ofoase, and Akim Sekyere-Abekoase roads.
A number of roads are also being tackled in the Ashanti Region. They include the 22km Ataase Nkwanta-Owusukrom, and five kilometres of New Edubiase town roads.
Another list for the second phase has been prepared and the President said the procurement process was underway. He consequently appealed to people in areas yet to be covered to exercise patience as they would have their turn.
All the roads being considered are critical rural roads which facilitate the transportation of not only cocoa but also food and other cash crops to the cities.
Although the money will not be enough to fix all the roads, it will, nonetheless, go a long way to complement other initiatives by the central government to improve the living conditions of our farmers whose toil continue to make Ghana a major driver of the global cocoa industry, and also promote socio-economic development.
One significant aspect of the Cocoa Roads Rehabilitation programme is that the roads will be tarred.
This is a departure from the age-old practice where feeder roads projects were mainly gravelled.
At the various fora where the President spoke, he emphasised the fact that targets for growth and poverty reduction relied heavily on the effective road transport sector.
And once cocoa remains the backbone of the national economy, the government will do everything possible to improve the roads in the cocoa-growing areas.
He stated that although Ghana, which used to be the world's number one cocoa producer, is now lying second to Côte d'Ivoire, the country’s cocoa beans are of premium quality and remain the best in the world.
Communities grateful
For the thousands of the people who turned up to welcome the President in the various towns and villages, it was all joy, especially when he said that there was no question about funding for the contracts.
The ‘Nananom’ who also spoke at the ceremonies were full of praise for the President in his quest to improve roads in their towns.
The paramount chief of Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, Nana Karikari Apau, for instance said, "We know the good work he is doing for Amansie and urge him to keep it up as we are solidly behind him."
No delays
We live in a country where delays by contractors in executing contracts are a common feature.
But the President said any contractor who delayed a contract must be questioned and brought to book because they had no reason to complain about payments since all genuine certificates presented for payment would be honoured.
This is a programme so dear to the heart of the government and COCOBOD must make every effort to ensure the implementation of every detail of the contracts from the duration of the project to the quality of the materials to be used.