Besides, it is to conserve and protect the environment for the benefit of the present and future generations.

The Ho-West District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Ernest Apau, made this known at separate community engagements at Holu­ta-Gborgame and Kpoeta-Achanti, yesterday where he educated the residents on government’s decision to develop the Aboete waterfalls at Holuta and the Tiga waterfall at Kpoeta-Achanti to transform the area into vibrant tourist sites in the district.

He explained that the Assembly was committed to make the area one of the best tourist destina­tions in the Volta Region with the objective of protecting the natural resources like animals, timber and the water bodies from human activities that would eventually destroy them.
    

Mr Apau announced that the development of the waterfalls by the developer, HERP GHANA, would start in the next one month, hence the Assembly had decid­ed to educate the people on the project to enable them to embrace it as well as to develop interest in environmental protection and conservation.

He further explained that the development of tourism sites in the district would not only protect the environment but also boost the local economic activities, which would definitely ensure that farm­ers and traders in the communities in the tourist sites would create wealth for themselves and improve on their living conditions.

According to the DCE, the Assembly already had a successful dialogue with the land owners and the chiefs in the two traditional areas, where it was agreed that the land was not to be sold but the company that would develop the site would regularly pay some percentage of the interest accrued in managing the tourist site to the land owners and provide priority needs like schools as part of the corporate social responsibility to the communities.

Mr Apau said a local manage­ment committee would be formed in the two communities to ensure that the areas marked around the waterfalls would be free from farm­ing, hunting and timber logging but would encourage farmers to embark on cultivation of econom­ic crops such as oil-palm among others.

The DCE stressed that the Gha­na Tourists Authority (GTA) would be educating the communities on best practices in dealing with tourists as well as the Business Ad­visory Unit (BAU) of the assembly would also educate the community members on small-scale business management including packaging of local food to attract tourists.

Mr Apau asked the various ser­vice providers in the area, such as drivers, okada riders, food vendors and farmers to take advantage of available opportunities to improve on their income levels, adding that they would soon benefit from special training programmes that would enable them to receive tour­ists who patronised their services.

A chief of Kpoeta-Achem, Togbe Avlor III and the Warlord of Holuta Traditional Area, Togbe Awudzatse IV, commended the Ho-West District Assembly and the DCE for the foresight and the ini­tiative to develop the tourist sites in the district, which they said would definitely create jobs for the youth.