The Ghana Boundary Commission is facilitating the construction of the first feeder road to the border community of Dollar Power in the Savannah region. This follows the commission’s first visit to the area in 2021. 

The road is being constructed by the Ministry of Roads with the 48 Engineers Regiment as contractors. 

Addressing the press during a visit to the area and a community sensitization programme, National Coordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Kotia said the road will help with the regular inspection of the international boundary line between Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire. It will also help security agencies get easy access to the area.

Major General Emmanuel Kotia said one of the key challenges of the area is accessibility as a result of that security agencies and other agencies are not able to undertake patrols.

“One thing we have done as a Boundary Commission is to facilitate the construction of a feeder road and as I am speaking to you, the 48 Engineer Regiment has started putting their resources together and a feeder road is going to be constructed along the international boundary line to Dollar Power. It is going to serve two purposes. One is to aid the regular inspection of the international boundary line, especially the pillars. The second purpose is to aid any security agencies or any other agencies like the Minerals Commission to undertake activities in this general area”.

He continued, “You will realize that we can only access here by motorbike and going around by air. And moving through Dollar Power, we can only use a motorbike because there is no road within the community”.

DCE for Bole, Veronica Alele said the construction of the road will make the community easily accessible.

“They will construct the bridge, they have all their equipment here in the community. We need to give them a feeder road because the border itself is only a path for motorbikes. If we have a feeder road, it will help personnel of the Forestry Commission and other state agencies to monitor the activities here”.

A core part of the work of the Ghana Boundary Commission is identifying challenges in border communities and collaborating with relevant state institutions to address them. Speaking during a community sensitization programme, Major General Kotia urged the residents of Dollar Power to safeguard Ghana’s international boundary line with Côte D’ Ivoire

“We heard reports about tampering and displacement of boundary pillars in this community. We came for the inspection and realized a number of boundary pillars along the international boundary line with Côte D’ Ivoire had been removed. As a result of that, we engaged the chiefs and community leaders of Dollar Power”.

He said the Boundary Commission realized illegal miners tampered with the Boundary pillars. “After the community sensitization during our visit, the people came to understand and recognize that these pillars are very important landmarks for the country. I can happily announce that there have not been any tampering of the pillars since those that were identified in 2021. And I must say that the sensitization that went on during that time helped to achieve this”.