The Afigya Kwabre South District has instituted a Quarry Development Fund in a bid to protect the quarry industry and the welfare of residents in the area which has the largest and finest deposits of rock.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Christian Adu-Poku, meeting with stakeholders recently, explained that the Quarry Development Fund was intended to ensure accelerated development.
According to him, the rock deposits have not benefited the indigenes development wise in the past, hence, the introduction of the Quarry Development Fund by the assembly to ensure that quarry operators contribute to the development of the area.
He, however, cautioned against encroachment in the buffer zone of the rock deposits to guard against collapse of the quarry industry, and a possible importation of chippings and other quarry products into the country in the near future.
The DCE indicated that the quarry industry is the major source of the district’s income, hence, the need to protect it for the benefit of quarry operators and the people.
He implored encroachers and squatters to vacate the areas as the Assembly would soon embark on the demolition of illegal structures, and called on chiefs and landlords to assist in the success of the exercise.
Meanwhile, Mr. Julius Caesar Kafui, Public Relations Officer for the Quarry Development Fund, said the operation of quarry industries cannot be abandoned because of encroachers who have defied dangers and risks involved in staying in the security zone within the buffer enclave.
He gave the assurance that those with genuine documents would be duly compensated in the course of the planned demolition exercise.
The Chairman for the Northern Sector Quarry Association, Adu Tutu Gyamfi, disclosed his outfit will establish a concrete hub in the Afigya Kwabre South District to create about 3,000 jobs for the youth in the next two years.
He, however, feared the feasibility of the proposal if the trend where encroachers continued to adamantly encroach on the rock deposits against national development agenda.
The post Afigya Kwabre Assembly gets tough with encroachers on quarry deposits appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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