Ghana’s President John Mahama is outlining key development projects his government has achieved so far with barely a year to go for the 2016 elections.
He told journalists at a programme underway dubbed ‘Accounting to the People Forum’ that the government was aggressively pursuing the Better Ghana.
President Mahama being flanked by ministers of state and other key government functionaries said the government has so far touched on health, education, sports, housing, water and road infrastructure and underlined some achievements chalked within those sectors.
The achievements when mentioned by the president are followed by thunderous applause from the crowd, some of whom are non journalists.
Education
President Mahama said his promise for 200 Community SHS is still in course with the some 123 of the schools awarded on contract and will be completed soon. He says some 10,400 scholarships have been awarded to some community students in order to make education available to all.
President Mahama was quick to add about 1,616 projects have been constructed for basic schools in the country.
He said because of such projects, most schools in Accra have abolished the shift system of education.
He said government among other things also distributed free textbooks and exercise books to school children as well as uniforms, shoes and sandals for school kids.
President Mahama also said some boarding schools will be enrolled unto the Progressive free SHS programme.
Health
The health sector according to President Mahama is one of the sectors government has invested heavily in.
He disclosed that government is transforming the Ridge hospital to become the Greater Accra Regional hospital.
He said as part of efforts to facilitate the process, government is currently building a 640-bed capacity facility for the Ridge Hospital.
He also refuted claims that the NHIS programme has collapsed.
Housing
On housing, the President said government is constructing about 5,000 housing units at Saglami near Prampram in the Greater Accra region.
Water and Sanitation
He explained that about 76 percent of Ghanaians have access to clean water, citing the Teshie desalination project and other water projects executed by the government as contributing to such success.
Transportation He added that an intra-city buses system will be commissioned soon to serve Ghanains in urban areas.
“Soon you will be seeing them on the roads. Its an e-card facility. We have to become and e-society and reduce the use of cash,” he added.
He also sad a new Sekondi train station is almost completed which will be commissioned. He said government has also upgraded the Kumasi airport adding that work on the Tamale airport is also progressing in earnest saying work on its runway will be completed soon.
Power President Mahama said is government is still committed in solving the electricity challenges the nation is facing in a bid to ensure that successive governments do not suffer pressures that comes with such crisis. He said the NDC government has connected about 2,861 communities to the national grid in the last three years. He added that due to works done by the government, so far about 76% of Ghanaians have been connected to the power grid.
GB&F
