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Communities living in and around the Oti Regional Capital, Dambai can now heave a sigh of relief as tree stumps on the Oti River that made transport across the region a perilous endeavour are being removed.

Boat disasters and their attendant deaths, particularly on the Volta Lake, have been quite common.

The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) which has in recent years aggressively uprooted tree stumps from certain parts of the Volta Lake has extended its work to the Oti river.

Many people travelling to Kete-Krachi in the Oti Region, as well as parts of the north such as Kpandai, Bimbilla,Yeji and Tamale, and the vast network of islands in the newly created region, have to rely on boats and ferries to cross the river which gave the region its name.

To prevent any accidents, the management of the Ghana Maritime Authority awarded a contract to Kete-Krachi Timber Recovery (KKTR) Ltd., for the removal of the tree stumps that have the potential to cause accidents.

The Deputy Director, Projects, Monitoring & Evaluation at the GMA, Dr. Richard Lartey, said this scale of tree stump removal has never been done. 

“Three important routes, with vast economic and social importance, were covered in this exercise – Dambai-Njare (18km), Tumpunjah Island-Kudorkope Yeji-Makango (5km), and Kudorkope-Dambai Yeji-Awujakope (7km),” he explained.

Between 2018 and 2019, he said the Authority also sponsored the removal of stumps on the 2.5km Dambai-Dodoikope, 8km  Yeji-Makango and 11km Yeji-Awujakope routes.