Mr Chris Ben Amoo-Gottfried, Vice President of the Takoradi Sports Club has bemoaned the situation where players in the oil and gas industry have their substantive offices in Accra where recruitments are done to the detriment of the residents in the Western Region in getting jobs.
According to him, the lack of skills among the youth to take up roles in the oil and gas industry and the Takoradi Port being dormant when it could operate both import and export is a major concern.
Mr Amoo-Gottfried recounted that Sekondi-Takoradi used to be industrious with a lot of factories like paper production, timber processing, tobacco processing and cocoa processing among others.
He made the concern when the members and Executives of the Takoradi Sports Club who are mainly business executives and opinion leaders met the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah to discuss the best moves to address some issues of concern among the business community in the region.
Some of the concerns raised by the members are cocoa farmers and indigenous people becoming poor by the day, the decline of football which needs a boost, worrying galamsey menace, potholes on the roads, nonfunctional traffic light, human and vehicular congestion in Takoradi and poor feeder roads which need a facelift.
They also expressed the need to engage owners of lands to address the issues of galamsey and crop production, the need to send some businesses and traders to Sekondi to open it up and the need to create Municipal Bonds to raise money for projects and development which are owned by the people.
Responding to the galamsey issues, Mr Darko-Mensah mentioned that community mining could be a way out and expressed worry about illegal miners whose activities cannot be regulated by the Minerals Commission because they are not licensed.
He said dealing with excavators was not that simple in that it costs over GHc 4,000 to be transported from the villages to the towns coupled with various challenges which necessitated the burning of the excavators
“The suggestion of the Courts issuing an order to auction them is also not safe since the culprits could turn around to buy them at a cheaper price”, he observed.
Mr Darko-Mensah opined that the issuance of concession licenses to prospectors should be shortened and further looked into for reforms to make it more robust for prospecting.
Touching on the redevelopment of the Takoradi Market Circle, he hinted that it will have a small recycling plant in it to improve on sanitation and also assured that there would be more spaces available for all who owned shops in the old one whereas new applicants can get some.
He urged the chiefs to use their resources and invest in ventures that will build capital to elevate their subjects from poverty, create sustainable jobs especially for the youth, and urged football owners and teams to understand the business of football so as to thrive.
Mr Darko-Mensah further hinted that the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH) upgrade will soon begin whereas plans are afoot for a major drain development in the region.
He stated that there is currently a policy framework that seeks to empower the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to raise their own monies for major infrastructural and developmental needs but is yet to be ratified by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP).
Mr Charles Kobena, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) announced that the meeting forms part of the Minister’s avow intent to make the region a business haven.
He said the Council is bent on putting proper measures to improve on businesses and therefore engaging various stakeholders and opinion leaders to sell the idea to them and take feedback from them to achieve the needed outcomes.
