French Development Agency Assist MMAs

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) and the French Development Agency (AFD) in Ghana have officially handed over vehicles and equipment to some four selected Ghanaian cities at a ceremony in Accra.

The Four cities— Tamale, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Ho—were selected under the Ghana Urban Management Pilot Programme GUMPP) which forms part of the continuous support from France to the MLGRD to enhance the decentralisation process, strengthen the capacity of Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) and make some investment resources available to them in order to improve the lives of their people.
A Deputy Minister, MLGRD, Hon. Baba Jamal, on behalf of the Minister, Hon. Akwasi Oppong Fosu, together with the Resident Manager of AFD in Ghana, Mr Bruno LECLERC, jointly presented the items.
Speaking at the ceremony Hon.  Jamal expressed gratitude to the AFD for their support and the ties between the two countries.
He said GUMPP was a programme financed by the AFD with a total amount of € 40.5 million, approximately 90 million Ghana cedis, adding that the funding was a loan to the Government of Ghana with a Grant element of €0.5 million, approximately 1.1 million of Ghana cedis.
This, he said, was to support the MLGRD and the four Assemblies to finance their priority investment projects and support their capacity building programmes.
He said in Tamale, a 1.5km storm-drain and   a retention pond would be constructed at Gumani to reduce flooding, while the Aboabo market would be upgraded and schools and public facilities constructed to improve sanitation.
In the Kumasi Metropolis, Hon. Jamal said the programme would finance the reconstruction of the Atonsu market to be developed into a Southern Trading Centre, the old Tafo Market into a Northern Trading Centre and the Asawase market into a Central Trading Centre while the landfill at Oti would be extended by the construction of new cells to improve sanitation in the city.
He said the GUMPP would finance the construction of a Transit Terminal for Haulage Trucks at Mpintsin-Sekondi to ease the traffic congestion, among other things, while the Ho central market would be reconstructed in addition to the construction of an engineered landfill plant for solid and liquid waste treatment and the construction of an abattoir.
Hon. Baba Jamal urged the beneficiaries to cultivate the culture of maintenance to ensure that the vehicles were well-maintained.
In his remarks, Mr Leclerc said under the programme, support measures would be provided to include urban management, street naming and addressing, property naming and valuation and other training programmes.
Mr Leclerc noted that, the intervention under the GUMPP would enhance the living conditions of the people of the four cities and strengthen urban management in the Assembles, adding that urban development and support to Local Government was one of the three sectors of concentration of France in Ghana.
“Aside the support from the French Embassy to the decentralisation process, on-going AFD financing in this sector amounts to more than €200 million and this includes contribution to the District Development Facility (DDF), financing of urban transports, environmental sanitation and rural water and sanitation projects,” he said.
On behalf of the beneficiaries, Captain Anthony Cudjoe from the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, thanked the Ghana Government and the AFD for the initiative and promised to work hard in building a better nation.