The Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has urged banks and other corporate entities to adopt streets across the country and support their beautification and maintenance.
The minister explained that companies could work together with the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA), formerly the Department of Parks and Gardens, and the Urban Roads Directorate to maintain greenery, plant trees, provide flowers and other decorations while branding the streets they adopt as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
In return, he stressed that the street or road could be named after the institution responsible for its beautification and maintenance, thereby giving the company visibility for its contribution to improving the urban environment.
Speaking to the heads of banks at a meeting at the Bank Square in Accra last Monday, Mr Ayariga said the initiative, if embraced by Corporate Ghana, would reduce the pressure on the government to fund urban beautification, create jobs for young people and make Ghana’s cities more attractive to residents, businesses and tourists.
“We are suggesting that Corporate Ghana takes up stretches of streets and works with the relevant authorities to maintain greenery, plant trees, provide flowers and beautify those streets.
“If everybody took a stretch, not just banks, but all companies in the country, the entire country would look beautiful; it would create jobs for young people and make Ghana an attractive place for people to visit and spend their time," he said.
Context
A few of the 23 banks operating in the country have already adopted portions of streets around their head offices and other business locations in Accra for periodic cleaning, landscaping and beautification, particularly during Christmas and other festive seasons.
Institutions such as Standard Chartered Bank, Ecobank Ghana, Absa Bank and others have, at various times, supported the decoration and maintenance of roundabouts, medians and open spaces around their offices as part of their CSR activities.
However, such initiatives have largely been seasonal and limited to areas around the banks’ premises, rather than sustained adoption and maintenance of longer stretches of roads.
It is against this background that the minister joined a meeting of the heads of banks following the 132nd Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to appeal to the banks and other corporate entities to scale up the initiative and support a broader nationwide street beautification programme.
Corporate partnership
Mr Ayariga stated that the initiative would involve the relevant government agencies working with participating companies to determine the design and maintenance requirements for each adopted stretch of road.
He said the Urban Roads Directorate and other institutions could provide guidance on the design, while companies would finance the planting and maintenance of trees, grass, flowers and other decorative features.
The minister said participating companies could also be allowed to brand the streets they adopted as part of the arrangement, thereby giving them visibility while contributing to the improvement of the urban environment.
He proposed that companies incorporate the cost of maintaining the adopted streets into their annual budgets and undertake the exercise in areas where they have operations across the country.
Jobs and tourism
Mr Ayariga said the initiative could create employment opportunities for young people through the expansion of the Parks and Gardens Department and the engagement of private contractors to undertake maintenance work.
He said a nationwide adoption of streets by Corporate Ghana would help transform the appearance of Ghanaian cities and make them more attractive to residents, businesses and tourists.
He added that the ministry would engage relevant stakeholders, including the Ghana Youth Association, to develop a roadmap for implementing the initiative, if Corporate Ghana supported the proposal.
BoG's position
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, stated that the banking industry was prepared to explore the initiative and work with the ministry to improve the urban environment.
He said the initiative could help reduce the reliance on the central government budget for urban beautification by encouraging corporate institutions to support projects within their areas of operation.
Dr Asiama urged the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) to form a team to engage the ministry on how to operationalise the proposal and determine ways to make it a win-win arrangement for the participating institutions and the communities.
