The Minister for Youth and Sports, Isaac Kwame Asiamah has cut sod to kick start the construction of multipurpose Youth Resource Centre at Dondoli, a suburb of the Upper West (UW) Regional capital, Wa.
The Centre is designed to have eight-lane athletic track, FIFA standard football pitch, tennis court, basketball court, handball court, fully furnished gym, counseling unit, ICT section, entrepreneurship centre and a restaurant.
The sod-cutting ceremony for the youth training and development ground in the region is part of the ‘One Region One Youth Centre’ initiative championed by the Youth and Sports Ministry to tap talents of young Ghanaians.
Mr. Asiamah justified construction of the development hubs across the 10 administrative regions as saying it absence had negative impact on vast talents of the youth that could be tapped for national development.
The facility has the potential to develop talents of the youth in the region and also serve as the ground for hosting national and international games.
"We are not here to make a promise but we are here for another fantastic programme, which is the sod-cutting for the construction of a youth resource centre that will be used to groom talents from this region", he said.
"It is my hope that this facility, when completed, will produce more All Stars, Black Stars and Black Queens for this country," he added.
Speaking on behalf of the UW Regional Minister, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Alhaji Tahiru Issahak Moomin, praised the government for taking such bold step to provide what he termed youth village to groom talents that otherwise go waste.
“Today marks another giant step taken by the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his quest to develop the youth of this country,†he said: “We have a lot of youth talents being wasted here in other areas of sports and other disciplinesâ€.
“But lack of facilities and amenities to bring this people together to explore their talents has contributed a lot in the lost of such talents, but today marks the beginning of the end of such waste in the regionâ€.
The centre is expected to be completed within the next nine months.
Source: GNA