Local Govt. Minister urges MMDAs to collaborate with partners for urban planning
Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development on Wednesday called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to collaborate effectively with traditional authorities and land owners to ensure effective urban development planning.
“I wish to call on all MMDAs to use their mandate as Planning Authorities to ensure proper planning to better the well-being of the people by collaborating with traditional authorities, land owners, civil society groups and the private sector to ensure effective organisation of economic and socio-cultural activities,” he said.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo made the call when addressing the Special Session of Ghana Urban Forum on the theme: “Planning Ghana’s Urban Future” in Accra on Wednesday.
The Forum is to help create awareness and stimulate action to address challenges of urbanisation such as poor planning and development control, enforcement of laws on urban planning and lack of effective participation on urban planning.
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) in conjunction with Cities, a global association of cities and development partners working to eliminate slums, organised the forum to help address urban poverty and poor environmental sanitation.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said the Ministry in collaboration with other ministries was spearheading the development of a comprehensive National Urban Policy and Action plan aimed at giving a clearer focus on urban development and management in the country.
He said the final draft was ready to be submitted to Cabinet for consideration and approval before the end of July.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said apart from the national development policy, the MLGRD had also spearheaded a policy framework and operational guidelines for street naming and property addressing system for the country.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said to support the implementation of the national urban policy, the Ministry in collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD) had initiated a €40 million Ghana Urban Management Pilot Project (GUMPP) in Tamale, Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi and Ho.
He said other projects and programmes to support urban development included a World Bank Local Government Capacity Support Project, to be implemented in 46 Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies with $175 million assistance.
Mr Alban Sumani Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing stressed the need for the citizenry no matter their social status to get access to adequate housing.
He said the burden on the Ministry was enormous that it needed to be split into two to ensure effective administration saying, “I also join forces on the calls for my Ministry to be split into two if not three. There is the need for us to get the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for effective administration.”
Mr Bagbin said the country was in deficit of 1.5 million housing units and had ignored providing adequate housing for the poor on its own peril since their inability to build resulted in slum creation, which exacerbated poverty in the country.
Professor John Naa Nabila, Member of the Council of State, said urbanisation had resulted in about 52 per cent of the country’s population living in urban centres hence the need for action to address urban poverty.
He said urban growth had implications on national development and appealed to urban policy makers and implementers to collaborate effectively to address the problem.
Source: GNA