Prestea Huni - Valley Municipal Assembly
The Prestea Huni-Valley District Assembly, with Bogoso as its capital, is one of the twenty-two (22) administrative authorities in the Western Region.
The District was carved out of the erstwhile Wassa West District Assembly in 2008 as a result of the creation of more Districts and raising of some Districts to Municipal status. It was established under the Legislative Instrument 1844.
The Assembly has a total membership of Forty-six (46). This is made up of thirty-two (32) elected members, thirteen (13) Government Appointees, the District Chief Executive and the Member of Parliament. In line with the 1992 constitution, the Assembly has the following Sub-District Structures;
ü One Urban Council (1)- Prestea
ü Six (6) Area Councils – Bogoso, Aboso, Huni-valley, Awudua ,Beppoh, and Bondaye
Mission Statement
The Prestea Huni-Valley District Assembly exists to improve the standard of living of the people through the provision of socio-economic services and facilities in partnership with other stakeholders.
Vision
To become a high income District that provides equal opportunities, wealth and state of the art facilities and services that meet the needs and aspirations of the citizenry.
Location and Size
From the 2010 Population and Housing Census, the Prestea Huni-valley District has the second highest population in the Western region of Ghana with a total of 159,304 people. The District’s population comprised of 80,493 (50.5%) and 78,811(49.5%) of male and females respectively. The District is predominantly rural and has its rural population of 62.9% exceeding the regional average of 57.6%. Also, the dependency ratio in the District is 78.8 necessitating the need to outline programs that are meant to financially empower the working population to be able to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the many dependents.
District Assembly Economy
Road
The general road condition of the Prestea Huni-Valley District is poor with over 80% being Feeder roads which are untarred and hence require regular reshaping. The only trunk roads are Tarkwa -Bogoso – Ayamfuri and Bogoso- Prestea roads. The Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayamfuri road is currently undergoing massive re-contruction and it is hoped that when completed, it would open up the District to a lot of investors and corporate institutions as well as boost the revenue base of the Assembly through activities such as on-street parking and payment of Business operation permits. Also, the major road (Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayamfuri) in the District links the southern part of the western region to the northern part and therefore serves as the route for the transportation of most of the resources that earn the nation foreign exchange (ie. Gold, cocoa, timber, bauxite etc.)
Provision has also been made in this budget to maintain about 45km of feeder roads in 2016 in order ensure that majority of the people who are into farming in the rural communities have access to Market centres and other social amenities.
Industry
The District is a hub for the mining of Gold and at the moment has 5 Major surface mining companies (namely: GSBPL, Goldfields- Tarkwa, Goldfield- Damang, Anglogold-iduaprim and Sankofa) and a number of other small scale mining firms notable amongst them is Okobeng mining company. AngloGold was the last to join as its commenced active mining in the District only in 2015. Also the District has over the years attracted companies which provides mining support services such as security, equipment and vehicle sale and hiring, sale of explosives, Industrial laboratory, catering and health services etc.
It is also to be noted that apart from the availability of gold ore, the district has large deposits of other raw materials such as kaolin and quartzite rocks which could support any investor who want to go into glass production and quarrying respectively. Also due to the availability of the Gold ore, a large number of youth have ventured into artisanal mining. It is anticipated that the artisanal mining skills when enhanced and regulated would inure to the benefit of the District and the country as a whole. On the other hand however, when these people are left uncontrolled, they would engage in illegal activities that tend to degrade the environment and pollute our water bodies.
Agriculture
Majority of the people in the Prestea Huni-valley District (PHD) are peasant farmers with their activities characterized by small holdings, use simple tools and application of inferior technologies. They are generally unable to take full advantage of opportunities available in the sector to significantly improve their economic status. Hence this budget would pursue activities that would help better the lots of the farmers through training, application of modern technology and improved planting materials.
Fortunately the district has over 50,000 hectares of Arable land in the inland valleys with the potential of producing several tons of rice to feed Ghanaians and export the surplus. The District also produces about 24,000 tons of cassava and 40,000 tons of palm fruits annually. This offers opportunity for investment in processing of the raw materials. The promotion of Aquaculture is a laudable alternative livelihood avenue that could help improve the precarious economic situation of farmers. Currently there are over 40 farmers who are into fish farming, some of which, have received both technical and financial support from the Assembly. Promotion of fish farming will therefore create jobs for the youth and boost availability and intake of protein foods in the District.
Education
The Prestea Huni-valley district has 102 KG/Pre-schools, 102 Primary, 71 JHS and 3 SHS. The District is earmarked to benefit from one of the 200 Day Senior High schools being built across the country. The location would be at Aboso. Also, the district has 43,315 pupils in basic schools (Pre-school-JHS) out of which 51.46% are males and 48.58% female. Public basic schools had a total staff strength of 1,235 at the close of 2014.
Against all odds teachers in the district have over the years performed creditably with the National best teacher for 2013 coming from the Prestea Huni-valley District. During the 2014/15 academic year, out of the total number of 3420 pupils who sat for the BECE, 86.5% passed
It is to be noted that despite all these the District still faces problems with infrastructure (deficit 193 classroom blocks) and personnel. This Budget would therefore adopts measures such as provision of classroom blocks, on the job training for teachers and new appointed heads, sponsorship of
trade and business
The District is one of the most vibrant in the region in terms of petty trading as its major market centres located at Bogoso, Damang and Prestea are among the most patronize in the western region. It can also boost of over 15 satellite (settlement) markets which are also well patronized. Apart from Sundays and Tuesdays, trading activities take place at various parts of the District each day. Currently the Bogoso Market centre is being upgraded for the introduction of a second Market Day which will fall on Tuesday due to the massive patronage of the existing Saturday Market. Indeed, this is expected to boast the local economy when started.
In the financial sector, the District started with 3 main banking institutions namely GCB, Fiaseman and Amenfiman rural banks which operated mainly within Bogoso and Prestea. The number has increased to 5 banks and 3 saving and loans companies which have extended their services to about 8 major towns in the District thereby improving access to credit facilities, improving the savings culture and enhancing provision of financial advice.
Over the past 4 years, the Fiaseman Rural bank has found itself on the Ghana club 100 list due to growth in commercial activities in the district.