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SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE
 Roads (Surface Accessibility)


The district has a total of about 356 kilometres of roads with only 36 kilometres out of the 356km tarred. This links the district capital to Bechem, Goaso, Mankranso and Kumasi. A greater number of roads in the district are untarred linking smaller settlements to the district capital. Moreover, a greater number of the road networks of the district become unmotorable most especially during the rainy season.

In line with the assembly’s development objective of opening up the district to rigorous business activities, it has acquired its own grader to put the roads linking the smaller settlements in good shape. To some extent, the level of development on these roads can be said to be adequate considering the number of people and foodstuffs that are transported daily from these rural areas which hitherto was not so. In the light of this, the district needs most of its roads tarred to open up the district to investors.


Energy


The people of the Ahafo Ano North District rely mostly on wood fuel as their source of energy. About 91.8% of the households depend on fuel wood (72% firewood and 19.8% charcoal) whiles only 8.2% use gas for cooking. Only six communities namely Tepa, Dwaaho, Manfo, Akwasiase, Mabang and Betiako have access to electricity.

Kerosene is the major source of energy for lighting. Dry cells and car batteries are used in radios and for televisions. On the average, about ¢32,000 is spent on energy every month. The energy sector is beset with many problems including the lack of electricity to run small-scale industries and for domestic use, long distance travel to obtain firewood (the average distance to be covered to get firewood is 3.04km), high cost of kerosene; the average cost of kerosene is ¢32,000 per gallon as against ¢27,000 in Kumasi.

These problems do not only cause discomfort to the rural poor, but also cause environmental degradation, inhibits the establishment of small- scale industries and breeds poverty. On the contrary, the situation is not entirely so as stringent measures have been put in place under the Self Help Electrification Project (SHEP) by the district.

In line with this, six more communities will be connected to the national grid by the end of 2007. This shows that there is a greater potential for investments in the energy sector. The situation in the district is such that an investment in low – cost energy supply equipments will yield phenomenal results.

Posts and Telecommunication


The District has only one post office located at Tepa and two postal agencies at Mabang and Manfo. Telecommunication networks on the contrary are widely distributed with about thirty (30) communities having access to mobile networks (GSM). In spite of this, only Tepa has access to fixed telephone lines.

Communication among communities in the district has greatly been enhanced and as such has a high potential of attracting both investors and tourists to its fold. The demand for mobile telephones is on the ascendancy. As a result any communication company that invests in the district to provide affordable phone networks has a greater chance of maximizing profit as the district has an untapped market.

Infrastructural Development

The infrastructural situation of the district is nothing to write home about as almost all the settlements in the district have not seen any significant development. Development in the district is skewed towards Tepa, the district capital where significant developments with respect to infrastructure can be seen, the rest are mainly mud houses.

The district has a well-equipped hospital with other health facilities spread across the district. There is adequate provision of school facilities in the major communities of the district. With respect to road networks, the least said about it the better as only about 10% of the road networks in the district is motorable making accessibility to rural communities very difficult and often impossible during the rainy season. Even though plans are underway to supplying electricity to major communities in the district by the year 2009, only about 6 communities can presently boast of electricity.

Service provision in the district is centered on a few banking, telecommunication, security and transport sectors. Because all the banks (3) in the district are located in Tepa, most of the inhabitants resort to keeping their monies in their homes thereby depicting a poor savings culture in the district.

Apart from Tepa, that has fixed telephone lines, all the major communities in the district are hooked up on mobile networks, which make communication very effective. Interestingly, a lot of work has already been done with respect to the provision of safe drinking water. Presently, about 80% of the entire district has access to safe drinking water yet much is left to be desired.

Much is still needed in the district in the areas of health provision, banking, telecommunication, electricity, manufacturing and schools (tertiary & vocational) in order to provide a fertile ground for a healthy competition with the existing ones.

Housing


Housing conditions to a large extent are a reflection of the living conditions of the people. The condition of buildings in the district have only 35% of the buildings in good condition, 45% are fair needing repairs and 20% are in bad condition with serious problems.

Infrastructural development in the district is skewed towards Tepa, the district capital. On the whole, about 51.7% of the houses are built with land Crete, 44.8% with wattle and dub and only a small portion of 3.5% are built with sand Crete. Majority of the houses (80.2%) are roofed with iron sheets and 19.8% roofed with thatch. 

The distribution of housing units in the district has been increasing steadily and it differs from community to community.  Tepa, which is fast developing and the only urban centre in the district accounts for about a fifth (5th) of the share of the population, and has about 13% of the district housing stock. Other, six larger communities, namely Asuhyiae, Anyinasuso, Akwasiase, Mabang, Abonsuaso and Manfo also have significant growth.

The district has a total of 7,278 housing units. The typical dwelling units are the compound houses. The separate and semi – detached are next in importance after the compound houses. Room occupancy is 2.25 persons per room. The poor quality of houses especially in the rural areas are worsened by excessive erosion as a result of heavy rainfall and the fact that most settlements do not have proper drainage facilities to provide houses adequate security.
The district has about 12,569 households with an average household size of 5.7 persons. 

The population per house is about 9.9 persons. This shows that the housing problem is one of quality not quantity. The houses lack basic facilities with only 20% of the houses having private toilets and only 4% with private water source. Based on the statistics given above, it can be deduced that the district is in dire need of quality and affordable housing units.

This implies that any investment in housing will yield great returns for investors. Moreover, much is also needed in the provision of water and toilet facilities in a chunk of the houses in the district. There will be a great demand for these facilities if they are provided to houses at reasonable costs.

 


Date Created : 11/15/2017 3:25:59 AM