Mr. Anthony Bassaw, the District Chief Executive for the Mpohor Wassa East, said the vastness of the district had led to its slow development. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Daboase Mr. Bassaw said the district, with a land area of 1,880 square kilometres, could only be accessed through the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis, Ahanta West district, Shama district, Wassa West district and Elmina in the Central Region. He said this was due to poor roads and lack of access to several communities. Mr. Bassaw said apart from the Daboase junction to Atieku and the Apowa-Mpohor stretch of highways, the entire district has no other tarred roads. He said another 12 kilometres have been awarded on contract to continue from Mpohor to Adum Banso. Mr. Bassaw said the un-tarred roads are in very poor condition and travelling on such roads was difficult and has thus cut off many communities from development. He said there are no feeder or cocoa roads in the district and this usually leads to food crops perishing at the farm gates while the few sell their cocoa to cocoa buying agents in the Central Region. Mr. Bassaw said another major challenge confronting the district was the high level of poverty and this had affected the educational opportunities of many of the inhabitants. Mr. Bassaw said scholarships had been awarded to brilliant but needy students in the district and some of the beneficiaries are in the universities. He said the district did not have many private enterprises and this made it difficult for the youth to secure employment. Mr. Bassaw said the youth, in their quest to make ends meet, were engaging in illegal mining and other negative activities to the detriment of the larger society. Mr. Bassaw said discussions were going on with the Ministry of Energy to connect as many of the communities as possible with the national electricity grid. Source: GNA