Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo

A pilot urban management programme aimed at maximizing resources for the implementation of priority projects in four cities of the country was launched yesterday at Ho in the volta Region.

The project, known as the Ghana Urban Management Pilot Programme (GUMPP), will cover Tamale, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Ho, and is being funded with a total of 40.5 million Euros facility from the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD).

Projects under the five-year period will include ultra modern markets, landfills, lorry parks, drains, enhancement of road networks and institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The programme is expected to enhance widespread access to essential services, build the financial, management and ownership capacities of the cities, support economic activities and local employment, and limit the negative impact of urban extension on peripheral ecosystems.

Launching it, Vice-President John Mahama said a large chunk of the population lived in the urban centres due to the push and pull factors of migration and anticipated that the trend would continue.

That population concentration, he said, had led to a rise in demand for infrastructure and services, and other effects like proliferation of informal neighbourhoods, polluting emissions and waste.

Vice-President Mahama therefore stressed the need for building capacity in urban planning, which he said, had been a major problem, noting that more often than not, cities were planned and built haphazardly.

Out of the four targeted cities, he said, it was only Ho that was municipality and added however that due to the project, the municipality would witness an expansion in economic activities which would necessitate its upgrade to metropolitan status.

Mr. Mahama noted that based on the successes of the four piloted projects, the GUMPP would be rolled out to other cities in the country to ensure that the urban centres were properly planned, administered and managed.

Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said under the project, Ho would have its road network in the central business district redeveloped besides a modern market, an abattoir, landfill site and a master-plan to guide its future development.

For Kumasi, he said, a market would be built at Old Tafo while a central trading centre would be constructed at Asawasi, a landfill site at Oti and a master plan to guide the city’s future development.

“Sekondi-Takoradi will have a social centre at Efia Kuma, a transit terminal for haulage of trucks and other ancillary services,” he said, adding that Tamale would witness the upgrading of the Aboabo lorry park, construction of storm drains at Gumani and Tishigu beside other ancillary services.

Bruno Lecrerc, Resident Manager of the AFD, said on a cumulative basis, total commitments of AFD to Ghana since 2004 was 634 million Euros and added that a total of 20 projects were currently ongoing in the country, mainly concentrated in urban development, decentralization, agriculture and energy.

Source: The Ghanaian Times

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