Legislation To Back Labour Intensive Technique Needed

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, has called for legislation to back the use of labour intensive mechanism in the implementation of government projects in the rural areas . He explained that the use of a proper labour based mechanism would help create employment in those areas, inject financial resources in the rural economy and create a sense of ownership of government projects by the rural communities for them to take better care of the projects. Mr Antwi-Boasiako was speaking to the media after inspecting a 1.7 kilometer feeder road being constructed between Obomofodensua and Akote in the Suhum Municipality using the labour intensive method. The road, when completed, is expected to link cocoa and crop farmers in the area to the main Koforidua �Suhum road and to enable them to easily transport their produce to marketing centers . The project is also being used as a form of practical training for a team of 17 personnel from Burkina Faso who are in the country to understudy the use of labour intensive methods in road construction in the country. Mr Antwi-Boasiako argued that, some policy makers in the country often believed that with the availability of modern technology, that should be given preference and said such people often forgot that the labour intensive methods could also provide the same quality of work like the machines and also led to the transfer of a lot of technical skills to the rural communities. He, however, tasked the contractors working on labour intensive projects to work to specification and ensure that they produced good quality work, which could convince those who had their doubts on method to change their minds . Mr Ernest Oberg, Principal of Ghana Highway Training Center, at Koforidua, who briefed the Regional Minister said, under the labour intensive methods, a lot of training was given to the local people engaged in the use of the various tools for the project. He explained that, the project, apart from developing local capacity, provided opportunity for ready labour for future engagement in the maintenance of the road. Mr Oberg said through the interaction with the team from Burkina Faso, the Ghanaian team had also acquired a lot of new ideas in the use of labour intensive methods in road construction. He said , while in Ghana water, which passed through the drains along the road were allowed to go to waste, in Burkina Faso, the drains were designed to end up in a dam along the road for irrigated farms .