As the debate on how Ghana should manage her oil revenue rages on, the chiefs, civil society and community-based organizations in the Western region have called for the relocation of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the headquarters of the oil and gas industry to the region to promote the spatial planning of Ghana. The group has also recommended that? Sekondi-Takoradi should be developed into an industrial hub for oil and gas, agro business, finance and tourism. According to them, the structure of the oil and gas local content bill should achieve emotional socio-economic integration between the oil and gas industry and local communities. This was contained in a communiqué issued after a two-day workshop on the theme: Preparing Minds and Space with Respect to the Oil and Gas Culture held in Takoradi, and facilitated by the Nana Kobina Nketsia IV Trust, with the support of Tullow Oil Ghana, Skyy Media Group, the Ghana Office of the World Bank, Friends of the Nation and the Coastal Resources Centre Ghana. The group, having deliberated on the potential impact of the oil and gas industry on the other sectors of the regional economy: forestry, solid minerals, agric, fisheries; the need to harness corporate social responsibilities for the development of the region; the importance of spatial planning; prevention of ecological and social disasters; health and safety - rapid response capacity to contain any major disasters and mass causalities; agreed that there should be a united and integrated approach to urban planning and an integrated spatial development of the area. It also recommended the development of a Western Region Accelerated Growth programme to harness the economic potential of the area in human resource, mining, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, tourism and manufacturing. Furthermore, the group has called on Government, as a matter of urgency, to establish a Western Regional Development Fund (WRDF) to facilitate accelerated development of the region, with the hope that this will help mute the strong and growing sentiment of alienation and marginalisation. It also asked that the oil, mining and other companies operating in the region should work closely with the regional authorities, the House of Chiefs and the communities to develop a comprehensive regional CSR plan, adding that a working group be formed to promote and facilitate the implementation of a WRDF programme. "The duty-bearers in the oil and gas industry should, as a matter of urgency, develop a regional capacity for adequate and comprehensive responses to any disaster or mass casualty that may result from the activities of the oil and gas industry that incorporates the upgrading and the improvement of the capacity of the existing accident and emergency centre. Further, the plans for a regional teaching hospital should be fast-tracked," they stated. The group expressed concern that, despite the immense community, personal and ecological sacrifices that have been-made with these contributions from the Western region - the people and the communities there have not derived proportionate and commensurate benefits in terms of development, adding that the current infrastructure underdevelopment and, among others, poor health facilities and services; poor road networks, high illiteracy levels, high unemployment and emigration of the youth, high school dropout rate and a very low school enrolment, whilst only 4.15% of the indigenes have access to secondary education. The representatives further expressed tear that, the emerging oil and gas industry may in all likelihood perpetuate this poverty of the Western region, if the status quo prevails, noting that the current medium-term development framework under preparation by the National Development Planning Commission barely mentions the Western Growth Corridor Development initiative and that the oil boom in the region is already hurting citizens and residents in increasing rents, prices, congestion and pressure on land use and services. It said that, at present, just over 40% of the Western region is connected to the national grid - far below the 60% national average, whilst the low-capacity transformers installed at district capitals have led to frequent power outages. In telecommunications, the Western region tele-density is 0.3 telephones per 100 people, far below the national average of 0.7 per 100 people. The Western region contributes substantial natural' resource to the national economy: largest producer of cocoa, largest contributor of timber, sole producer of rubber, second highest producer of gold (with the potential to become the highest, if current rate of prospecting continues), sole producer of manganese and bauxite and among the leading contributors in tourism and foreign remittances. Source: The Heritage