Land use bill to regulate town planning soon
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is to ensure the early passage of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Bill to bring about sanity and sound human settlement plans and to stop the haphazard physical development of the country, Ms Barbara Serwa Asamoah, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has said.
Advertisement
She said the Land Use and Spatial Planning Bill, which was before Cabinet, when passed, would among others empower the Town and Country Planning Department to be able to enforce the strict adherence of its planning schemes throughout the country to end the current practice where developers and individuals put up structures not in conformity with laid-out plans for particular areas.
Ms Barbara Asamoah made the assertion when she opened a two-day capacity building for journalists and media personnel from the Northern zone of the country in Kumasi. It was organised by the project co-ordinating unit of the second Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP-2).
She said the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, working in concert with other concerned ministries and agencies with support from LAP-2, was pursuing the passage of the bill which will turn the town and country planning department into an authority to ensure the sustainable and scientific planning of cities and towns of the country.
According to the deputy minister, the bill had gone through a lot of processes and was before Cabinet.
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Affail Monney, said journalists must be well trained and knowledgeable to be able to play their meaningful role as opinion leaders and pacesetters and commended the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the LAP-2 for building the professional skills of journalists and media personnel.
Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, the Director of Newspapers of the Graphic Communications Group, who chaired the opening ceremony, said land was a critical factor in the development of all nations, especially in Africa where over 70 per cent of the people carved their livelihood from the land and land related industry.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, called on journalists to display non-partisanship in their line of duty to gain credibity before all sections of society, adding that they should focus more attention on developmental issues such as land reportage instead of politics.
In all, over 50 journalists and media practitioners from the Northern zone of the country, namely Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions, participated in the capacity building.
