‘Living conditions in rural areas improving faster’
Living conditions in the rural areas of Ghana are improving faster than in the urban centres, the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Baba Jamal, has stated.
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The situation, he noted, had resulted in a demographic shift with people moving from the urban areas to settle in the rural areas.
Mr Jamal, who was speaking at the opening of the 2013 second national urban forum at Ejisu near Kumasi, said Ghana’s population, which was about 80 per cent rural and 20 per cent urban in 1960, had narrowed down to 52 per cent urban and 48 per cent rural.
The situation, he said, was a result of the significant improvement in the provision of basic amenities such as water, electricity and toilet facilities in rural areas as against those in the urban areas.
The forum was aimed at affording stakeholders in the urban development sector the opportunity to dialogue about the urban issues with the view to reaching consensus on how to tackle the challenges.
It was on the theme, “the new national urban policy implications and challenges for Ghana’s urban development.”
Mr Jamal said it was to address the challenges confronting the development of the cities and urban centres that the National Urban Policy and Action Plan was developed by the government about two months ago.
“The policy of government is to use urbanisation as a catalyst for economic growth, social improvement, cultural enhancement and environmental sustainability,” he said.
Ghana, he stated, was seeking collaboration with her development partners and other stakeholders to effectively implement the policy.
The deputy minister said Ghanaians needed to start discussing urbanisation as a national issue so that pragmatic actions could be worked out towards sustainable urban development.
He specifically tasked Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to pay serious attention to urbanisation.
They should also ensure that money given to the respective assemblies for capacity building were used for the purpose.
“If you want quality it should come from quality personnel,” the deputy minister said.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Senior Presidential Advisor and Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr P.V. Obeng, noted that rapid urbanisation was fast becoming a major development challenge in the management of Ghana’s cities and other urban communities.
“Indeed no one can really foresee the quandary in which Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and other large communities would find themselves in 10 to 30 years’ time if efforts are not made to put in place an effective urban governance and management system,” he said.
Mr Obeng said the government was playing a pivotal role in ensuring that urban planning, legal and institutional framework became an instrument of prosperity in urban centres.
The Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Yaw Adusei, expressed delight that the national urban policy framework had a poverty reduction element in it.
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu & Angelina Opuni Mensah / Daily Graphic