Asantehene Clears Path For Kumasi Industrial City Project to Commence

The King of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has cleared all hurdles in the path of the Greater Kumasi Industrial Park and Special Economic Zone Project in the Ejisu Municipality.

This follows a plea by the Minister for Trade and Agribusiness for Asantehene’s intervention to pave the way for the first phase of the project, which is being funded by a $30 million World Bank facility. The project will cover a total of 3,388.2 acres of land in the Ashanti Region.

Otumfuo engaged the nine chiefs of the affected communities during the Asanteman Council meeting on March 17, where he gave them a clear directive to facilitate the work of surveyors who will be brought in to assess the land.

“Be patient, the Minister has committed to paying the remaining amount. For that, it will be paid directly to you. The government intends to send surveyors to access the land. Assist them in doing that so that the project will be done for Asanteman to develop. Be patient.”

He further assured them that the necessary compensation would be paid to those affected.

“The new Minister has come to see me and the project must commence. I am in support of the project. I told her the compensation never reached the victims so I have directed that an auditing be done to find those that remain to be compensated so that the government finds money to pay them.”

Concerns
During a visit to the Manhyia Palace last week, Hon Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare said she had received proposals for investment from the private sector and development partners to establish more multipurpose and special-purpose industrial parks in the Special Economic Zone for massive industrialisation.

However, she said the challenge had to do with compensation issues over the affected lands.

“The World Bank is funding it. It has paid a part of the money to the contractor. In the next two months, the World Bank will cancel the project. We therefore need to race against time to get it started immediately. I implore Otumfuo to intervene.”

She intends to make it her first major project as Minister.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini