Local Gov’t Minister urges MMDCEs to be more innovative
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) have been urged to be more innovative and come out with pragmatic strategies to inject pace to the socio-economic development of their areas.
They should work closely with the private sector to explore new areas of generating funding for infrastructure development.
Mr Baba Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), said it must not be lost on them that they are the centre of development and must find new ways of doing things.
They need to pay serious attention to urban development, he added.
He was opening the second national urban forum at Akyawkrom, near Ejisu, on Thursday, under the theme “The new national urban policy; implications and challenges for Ghana’s urban development”.
Organized by the MLGRD, it was meant to serve as a springboard for dissemination of the national urban policy framework and the promotion of policy dialogue among central government officials, local government authorities, community representatives, civil society organizations and other stakeholders to aid Ghana’s urban transformation.
Mr Jamal said the current level of urbanization and its associated problems are posing serious challenges to national development.
He noted that most urban dwellers are worse off in terms of availability of social amenities including water and sanitation, economic opportunities, energy and others.
It is in the light of this that the government has come out with the national urban development policy and action plan to give clearer focus for urban development.
Urbanization must be seen as a national issue and therefore the need to fashion out pragmatic plans to address it.
Mr Steve Akuffo, Commissioner for Shelter, National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), said it is sad that the cities are growing faster without any vision.
He said it has become urgent for the district assemblies to do everything to bring about some level of orderly development.
Mr Mamadou Niang of the Cities Alliance, collaborators of the project, said Ghana is among six countries in Africa selected for support by the Alliance to implement master urban planning policy to strengthen urban infrastructure.
Mr Samuel Yaw Adusei, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, expressed dissatisfaction with the poverty and poor sanitation, engulfing many urban areas.
He rallied all stakeholders to work together to tackle these and make things better.
Source: GN