The Agona West Municipal Assembly has inaugurated its District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) to facilitate construction of roads to enhance transportation of goods and services. ''The inauguration of the equipment will serve as a game changer that will help farmers in the rural areas to bring their produce to market centres'', Mr Evans Addison Onomah Coleman, Agona West Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has said. The MCE was officially inaugurating the DRIP equipment at a short ceremony attended by Swedruman Council of Chiefs, staff of Agona West Assembly and machine operators at Swedru in the Central region. Mr Coleman said it would reduce higher lorry fares charged by some commercial drivers before carting food stuffs and other goods into urban areas and further curtail postharvest losses. He said the procurement of the DRIP equipment by President Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President was the biggest policy for advancement of roads infrastructure. The MCE said the equipment would al so help to eliminate huge expenditure incurred on roads maintenance by the Assembly over the years. He disclosed that there would be no more complaints, demonstrations, and verbal warnings from some residents, especially the youth in all the 261 MMMDAs nationwide to the offices of MMDCEs about bad roads. Mr Coleman called on the operators to take particularly diligent care of the machines to help serve the needs and aspirations of the inhabitants in the Agona West Municipality. The MCE urged Ghanaians, especially eligible voters in the Agona West Constituency to vote massively for Dr Bawumia as President and Mr Chris Arthur as Member of Parliament to continue the effective implementation of their policies and programmes to ensure economic wellbeing of the people. Mr Chris Arthur, the Agona West Parliamentary Candidate for New Patriotic Party (NPP) expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia for their visionary and unprecedented leadership that had given birth to DRIP equipment for the maint enance of community roads. The PC said during campaigning for the parliamentary primary he spent huge sums of money to hire grader to reshape some roads in the constituency and that that had ended. Mr Arthur said he had already submitted several roads to be constructed as early as practicable to the office of the MCE and the DRIP committee and it has successfully been approved and works had begun. He said the road linking Otabilkrom to the One District One Factory site was being constructed to bring relief to the residents there. Mr Arthur called on the supporters of the party to rally behind him as parliamentary Candidate and Dr Bawumia to win massively on December 7, 2024. Alhaji Gibrine Tanko, Agona West Constituency Chairperson of NPP, cautioned some group of persons who were nation wreckers and had allegedly planned to destroy the machines to derail the plans of government to rescind their decision. He expressed optimism that the Assembly would tighten security and guard against thievery of the DRI P equipment so that communities in the constituency whose roads were in deplorable state could be constructed. Alhaji Tanko called on the rank and file of the party to team up with the constituency executives to work extra hard to enable the PC and Dr Bawumia to win massively, adding that the Agona West had only one Parliamentary Candidate who was democratically elected on Saturday April 13, 2024. Nana Kweku Esieni V, the Regent of Agona Swedru assured the Assembly that the chiefs would do everything possible to ensure that policies and programmes of the government were successfully implemented. He called on the operators of the machines to own them by taking diligent care of them so that the residents would reap maximum benefits to enhance effective roads maintenance. Nana Esieni who is the Nifahene of Agona Swedru, urged the Assembly to adopt efficient and effective ways to increase revenue collection to help buy gasoil to fuel the machines all the time. Mr William Apraku, Chief Operator of Agona West Municipal Assembly on behalf of the colleagues expressed gratitude to the government for providing the DRIP equipment and assured that they would be properly maintained and work effectively. Source: Ghana News Agency