Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has justified the need for an airport to be sited in Cape Coast in the Central Region.
Dr. Bawumia on Saturday during the launch of New Patriotic Party’s manifesto in Cape Coast announced the town will get a new habour and an airport if the NPP is re-elected.
This promise has been met with mixed reactions.
While some residents and tourism operators have lauded the idea, some researchers and think tanks, on the other hand, think it is merely superfluous.
But speaking on Peace Fm Tuesday, the Vice President insisted an airport in Cape Coast is key.
“An airport in the Cape Coast is very necessary in the view of the government,” he said in Twi, citing the historical significance of the town and its tourism potential.
He said Cape Coast being the first capital town of Ghana (then Gold Coast) has relics of slavery which are of historical importance that cannot be overlooked in the conversation of slave trade.
“Cape Coast is a tourism capital… Cape Coast is education capital,” he reiterated.
According to Dr Bawumia, an airport in Cape Coast is economically more viable than the airport in Ho built by the erstwhile John Mahama government.
“In fact, there is more of a case for an airport at Cape Coast than there was for an airport in Ho. There’s more of a case for it but I didn’t see a lot of resistance to the airport in Ho as I’m seeing in the airport of Cape Coast. In terms of the tourism potential, Cape Coast is bigger. It’s good that we have an airport in Ho, that’s fine but I’m saying that the economic case is stronger in Cape Coast,” he explained.
The NPP Vice Presidential Candidate argued that there is quite a significant amount of traffic to Cape Coast because of tourism and education, hence the need for an airport.
In reaction to critics who suggest that priority be fixing the roads leading to Cape Coast, Dr. Bawumia said roads and railway development are part of the bigger infrastructural drive of the NPP.
He is positive that an airport in Cape Coast will boost the local economy and go a long way to help the people in the area.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana