HomeNewsNewsGovernmentSOCO PROJECTS WILL BE COMPLETED IN SIX MONTHS – COORDINATOR

SOCO PROJECTS WILL BE COMPLETED IN SIX MONTHS – COORDINATOR

SOCO PROJECTS WILL BE COMPLETED IN SIX MONTHS – COORDINATOR
 
The first phase of the 232 Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Projects started across the 15 Municipalities and Districts of the Upper East Region are expected to be completed in six months.
The ongoing projects including sheanut processing factories, school infrastructures, maternity blocks, nurses quarters among others, are all at various levels of construction.
The SOCO Project Coordinator, Mr. George Aidoo, after a familiarization tour of the sites in the Bolgatanga Municipality, Nabdam and Bolgatanga East Districts with officials of the World Bank to ascertain the process of work, assured the Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Stephen Yakubu.
Mr. Aidoo said the SOCO Projects were carefully selected based on community-driven demand, and not any political party decision.
He said the projects would benefit residents, especially the teeming unemployed youth in the beneficiary communities.
He further assured the Minister and staff of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) that the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLGDRD) would assist the RCC with funds to monitor and ensure that all projects were constructed to the required standards.
Hon. Yakubu noted that the implementation of the SOCO Projects in the Region was a game-changer as it would reduce the poverty levels through job creation, and therefore, called on residents to own and support the construction processes so that the Projects would be completed on schedule.
He said the Upper East was the only Region that shared boundaries with two countries; Togo and Burkina Faso with porous entry points which posed security challenges to the country.
The Minister, who Chairs the Regional Security Council, was however, hopeful that the projects, when completed would offer job opportunities to the teeming youth, and prevent them from been lured by Jihadists and prevent them from travelling to Southern Ghana for menial jobs.
He said with the vast water resources and huge gold deposits in addition to clay and rocks as natural resources, the Minister wooed officials of the World Bank to consider some investments into such resources to enable the Region produce enough food to feed itself and the rest of the country.