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General News of Sunday, April 28, 2019
Source: 3news.com
2019-04-28
Former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama badured chiefs and the people of Atuabo, in Ellembelle District, in the Western Region, that he would "resurrect" Atabo's free port project in 2020 when he will win the presidential election.
He claimed that the Atuabo Freeport Project and other oil and gas services projects, which his government had planned for the west and east of Nzema, were to allow the country to make the most of the benefits of oil discovery.
"We planned to build an oil services port here in Atuabo. Unfortunately, there was a bit of misunderstanding. Our brothers from the other political group took the project to court and blocked it until we left our post. "
The Atuabo free port project would have been Ghana's third port.
The $ 700 million project built by Lonhro Port Limited was to be operational in 2017 and serve as a regional hub for the promotion of safe and efficient offshore businesses.
However, five MPs sued the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over exclusivity clauses and tried to prevent the expansion of Takoradi port.
But at the palace of the supreme chief of the traditional eastern region of Nzema, Awulea Amihere Kpanyinli III, during his two-day thank-you visit to the western region, former president Mahama claimed that the project was in interest of the country.
He said the Atuabo Freeport Project would have meant that Ghana would have world-clbad facilities to support the oil and gas industry.
"The Atuabo Freeport Project is very important because it will help the oil and gas industry. So when NDC returns, we will resurrect it and build it so that the oil industry can have a place to receive their services. It will also create jobs for our youth in the Nzema area. "
He also said that attention would be given to the project to create a petrochemical industry in western Nzema in order to give impetus to Atabo's free port.
"In our plan [are] the gas processing plant, the port and others are located in Nzema East. For Western Nzema, we have a petrochemical plant. The drawings are still there and the plan will be resurrected in its entirety. "
He said: "We also thought it wise to put all these projects on an equal footing with the infrastructure of the Nzema region. So we started the gas enclave project. So now, all the roads where the gas plant and the ancillary companies are located have been tarred.
The head of Akropong in Ellembelle District, Nana Adu Kwame, said that Nzema's chiefs and residents would be beholden to the John Mahama administration for putting in place the infrastructure Ghanaian gas on their land.
"It was during your tenure as president that we had the Ghana Gas project. There are also other oil and gas service companies. We are very grateful. Now our roads can be compared to those of big cities.
According to him, an immediate victory for the NDC in the 2020 general election is badured if only "you do not walk where you walked to record your defeat in 2016".
"I will exhort you to be patient, to remain united and to flee all profligate tendencies."
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