Two colourful ground-breaking ceremonies for the construction of Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds with ancillary facilities have taken place at Agorgbe and Lolito/Nyinuto, two small farming communities in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region.
The two (2) projects, which are being funded from the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), are expected to be completed in six (6) months.
The Agorgbe project is to be executed by Messrs Dewis Company Limited, based in Accra, at the cost of Ghc977,621.72 whiles that of the Lolito/Nyinuto project is being undertaken by Messrs True Builders’ Construction Company Limited in Accra at some Ghc984,674.65.
The CHPS is a national health strategy by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to bring basic healthcare closer to citizens in underserved communities, especially in rural areas of the country. This is done through community participation, thereby reducing barriers to access for services like maternal and child health and also managing minor illnesses, all aimed at achieving universal health coverage.
The two ground-breaking events were heavily attended by the community members and their leaders, as well as officials from the GHS and the Ghana Education Service (GES). Also present to grace the occasion were the Regional Minister, Hon. James Gunu, Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Hon. Maxwell Kwame Lukutor, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Hon. Victoria Dzeklo, the District Director of Health Services (DDHS), Ms Mavis Agumeh, as well as the District Director of Education (DDE), Mrs Celestine Esi Korsi Agordo.
Speaking at the grounds-breaking events, the Regional Minister, Hon. James Gubnu noted that the marked improvement in the award of contracts by the Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) can be attributed to the NDC government’s deliberate positive and human-centered policy to ensure that eighty (80) percent of the DACF goes to the Assemblies for their respective developmental needs, a situation he said did not exist under the previous NPP administration.
He used the occasion to reassure the people that the President, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, would deliver on all his campaign promises to Ghanaians.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Hon. Victoria Dzeklo, urged the community members to support the contractors to execute the projects on time. She also urged the chiefs and community leaders to educate their subjects not to involve themselves in the pilfering of the construction materials from the project sites.
The MP, Hon. Maxwell Kwame Lukutor, for his part, thanked the chiefs and people of the two communities and South Tongu for that matter for voting for President John Mahama and the NDC in the last elections, assuring that they should expect more from the current prudent management of the economy which has resulted in reduced inflation figures, fall in the prices of goods and service, relieve for businesses as well as the relative peace and stability in the financial space of the country.
The District Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ms Mavis Agumeh, was grateful to the Assembly for the two projects, saying they would go a long way to improve access and quality service delivery to the thousands of residents living in these beneficiary communities and their catchment sister towns.
Zikpuitor Noah Kofi Kudze of Agorgbe and Togbe Gbeku Amegoe III, Dufia of Nyinuto, were equally grateful to the government that their communities had been selected from among the lot to benefit from the CHPS compound projects. They pledged their support and that of their citizens in ensuring that the projects are completed within six months.
The projects would be supervised by the District Works Department (DWD) of the Assembly, led by the District Engineer, Mr Simon Kofi Defoe. According to him, the projects’ execution forms part of efforts to meet the medium-term needs of the people under the 2022-2025 medium-term development plan of the Assembly.
