VEEP LAUNCHES €40.5 MILLION GUMP PROJECT IN HO

Listen to  Vice President Mahama

Vice President John Dramani Mahama, has given the assurance that Government would continue to source funds for the provision of basic social amenities, to improve the living conditions of people in the urban areas.

He noted that, currently 53 per cent of Ghanaians lived in the urban areas, a figure he said was likely to increase to 67 per cent by 2030, and there was the need to provide services to meet the ever increasing population.

Vice President Mahama gave the assurance when he launched the 40.5 Million Euro Ghana Urban Management Pilot Project (GUMPP) at Ho, the Volta Regional capital on Monday.

GUMPP, which seeks to promote a comprehensive city-wide approach to urban issues within the framework of the draft National Urban Policy and its action plan, is being piloted in Kumasi, Tamale and Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis and the Ho Municipality with support from Agence France Development (AFD).

Vice President Mahama said apart from providing infrastructure in the pilot areas, the project would also help streamline the haphazard planning of major cities of the country and avoid perennial waste and poor sanitary conditions.

Vice President Mahama called on the beneficiary cities to make judicious use of the resources to encourage their development partners to support other projects.

Mr. Ofosu Ampofoh, the Local government minister, said the initiative would ensure the implementation of urban development programmes such as provision of lorry parks, ultra-modern markets, water, sewerage and sanitation issues, enhance the revenue collection capacity of local governments and increase strategic planning, local management and internal organization of local administration.

He also announced that the project, which would be executed within five years, would be replicated in other cities after successful implementation in the pilot cities.

The French Ambassador to Ghana Mr Frederic Clavier, on his part noted that France had been supportive of Ghana’s Public Sector Reforms, and promised to provide more resources in the coming years to build the capacities of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and the decentralization programme.

Mr Bruno Leclerc, Resident Manager of AFD, said the group had already provided GH¢22million for the decentralization programme, to build the capacities of assemblies through the Community-Based Rural Development Project.

Meanwhile Vice President Mahama has commended the people of the Volta region as well as Gas for their restraint over the alleged ethnocentric comments made by the NPP MP for Assin North, Kennedy Agyepong, assuring the people that  government will ensure their safety as far as it remains in power.

He also used the opportunity and appealed to Ghanaians to give president Mills a second term for him to continue with the Better Ghana agenda. 

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