The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has expressed satisfaction with the 30 percent work done at the ongoing Appiate reconstruction site following the January 20, 2022 explosion that wiped out the community and killed 16 persons.

The Lands Minister said this during a tour of the site on Wednesday, Janaury 4, 2023.

He was accompanied by his Deputy Minister, Benito Owusu Bio who is in-charge of the reconstruction and the Minerals Commission’s Board Chairperson, Barbara Oteng Gyasi.

“We laid down time-tested processes of dealing with this matter. Investigations were conducted and people were punished. One aspect of the gamut of measures we rolled out was how to reconstruct this community. We are not just reconstructing this community, but we are doing it pursuant to the vision and instruction of President Akufo-Addo for us to construct this community in a manner that it becomes a model Ghanaian rural community. I should say that having been here, I’m tremendously impressed. I feel very proud that I have been given this opportunity to lead the team which has brought the state in which we find ourselves in, with respect to the reconstruction of Appiate,” the Lands Minister remarked.

While calling on the public to continue to contribute to the Appiate fund, Samuel Abu Jinapor re-emphasized the government’s commitment to judiciously utilize the funds to complete the first 124 model households on time.

“And if we are able to carry this through really, this will become historic. We are going to have the community first of all and the displaced indigenes will be resettled and resettled properly in settlements which are far advanced, modern, and climatically friendly. And hopefully, it will become a model rural community for our people here in Ghana. So I’m very happy and want to use this opportunity to thank my Deputy Minister honourable Benito Owusu-Bio who has been leading the Appiate reconstruction implementation team, the fundraising team led by Madam Joyce Aryee and all the citizens, residents, individuals, organizations in our country who have contributed generously to the fund”.

“As you can see, the fund is being put to judicious use, and we are determined to get value out of the funds which have been given out for this reconstruction and I will use this opportunity to call on Ghanaians to continue to contribute to the fund because as you can see this is phase one of the development. Indeed, people can take up some of the projects like school blocks, nurseries, CHPS compounds and construct them by themselves. So all in all, I should say I’m impressed”, the minister indicated.

His Deputy Minister, Benito Owusu-Bio on his part said though all is well with phase one of the project, government is yet to raise funds for the second phase.

“We have enough funds for the first phase, but we don’t have enough for the second phase. That is why we are requesting for more donations towards the fund,“ he noted.

Walter Semordzi from ASEL, consultants for the project, promised to hand over the completed first phase-one by June 5th.

“We have 106 different housing types going on out of 124. At the moment, we are above 30 percent completion, and we expect that by June 5th we should complete the entire project and handover,“ he said.

Later addressing the affected residents of Appiate at the resettlement site, Samuel Abu Jinapor assured the people of quality work and fair distribution of the houses.

Speaking on behalf of the Appiate community during the Minister’s interaction with the people at the resettlement site, the Divisional Chief of Bepoh, Nana Atta Kojo Beremebi Il, called on the Minister to ensure the release of funds into the Appiate Disaster Relief Fund for the care of the affected persons.