Koforidua-Ghana, July 10, GNA – The Eastern Regional Coordinating Council (ERCC) has held its first meeting of the year, and charged all the 33 Municipal and District Chief Executives to take steps to ensure land developers follow building regulations.
Section 94 of the Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) provides enforcement in respect to unauthorised development.
Addressing the meeting, Mr. Seth Kwame Acheampong, Eastern Regional Minister, said that no physical construction should take place without an authorization from the assembly, stressing that, if this this was enforced it would reduce haphazard development and prevent disasters.
“I believe we are all aware of the worrying trend of the collapse of some buildings in Accra and other parts of the country where some lives were lost,”
He said the situation has been a big cause of worry for building and engineering professionals as well as local government authorities.
According to him, many people are wondering, “Do these buildings have permits from the assemblies?”
The District Assembly is designated as the Planning Authority under Section 82 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936).
Therefore, he said it was the job of the assemblies to verify that developers respected construction regulations, emphasising, “Once again, I want to charge the Municipal and District Chief Executives, who are chairpersons of the Spatial Planning committees, to ensure that sanity prevails in the building space.”
The meeting had in attendance Chief Executives from the 33 Municipal and District assemblies, during which various departments of the districts, and municipalities made presentations.
Dr. Audrey Smock Amoah, Eastern Regional Development Planning Officer presented the District League Table (DLT), stating that it was an annual assessment conducted by the National Development Planning Commission, UNICEF, and the University of Ghana.
She noted that the DLT rates districts based on the well-being of their residents and intends to motivate the government and its municipal and district councils to take action to promote better prioritising and fair resource distribution.
She explained that the DLT approach included desk review and technical workshops; data collecting, cleaning, and standardisation; factor analysis; and principal component analysis.
The presentation showed that the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly was ranked ninth out of 261 districts in Ghana on the DLT, and also came in top position among the 33 districts in the Eastern region.
Mr. Isaac Appaw-Gyasi, Chief Executive of New Juaben South Municipality, praised the accomplishment as a collaborative effort that needed steadfast support and sacrifices from the workers, him, and the whole area.
“We need to sustain the status, make sure we don’t drop down, and rather improve to be first on the list among the 261 districts,” he said.
