Public, private partnership to be strengthened

A four-day workshop on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concept under the Urban Poverty Reduction Project (UPRP) has been held at Takoradi.

It was organized by the Social Investment Fund in conjunction with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and attended by some top officials of the Gomoa West and Awutu-Senya District Assemblies and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, as well as media representatives.

Twelve towns and cities nation-wide are beneficiaries of the Project which is being funded by the African Development Bank and the Government of Ghana to reduce poverty to support the first agenda of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which seeks to reduce by half the percentage of people living on less than one dollar a day.

Addressing the participants, Mrs. Abena Nkrumah, SIF Coordinator for Zone Three, comprising the Central and the Western Regions, said strengthening the collaboration between the public and the private sectors was to promote the goal of the UPRP to make income generating a component of any infrastructure provided.

She said the maintenance of the projects provided in the past became a problem for both the provider and the users, and that the UPRP had therefore decided to add a component which could generate funds to sustain the projects.

Mrs. Nkrumah said by involving the private sector which controlled about 80 per cent of the labour force, the UPRP would make them contributors towards the sustenance of the projects.

She cautioned against politicizing the UPRP, saying the project does not belong to any particular party.

Mr. Hainz Osei Karikari, Project Office of SIF, said 30 billion old Cedis representing 20 per cent of money allocated for projects in Apam,
had been exhausted whilst 16 billion old cedis of the allocation for Kasoa, representing 60 per cent, had been spent.

Mr. Prosper Dzansi of PAM Consult, a facilitator at the workshop, appealed to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMAs) to communicate positive findings emanating from workshops and researchers to the ministries and departments for inclusion in their programmes and policies.

Mr. John Duti of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), also a facilitator, urged Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies to demonstrate to their people the justification for their elevation to that status through increased revenue generation and performance to improve the conditions of living of their people.

Mr. Kwame Asubonteng, also of PAM Consult and a facilitator, urged the Assemblies to make their bye-laws known to their people for adherence to change their ways of life.

He called for tax rebate for local institutions which offered services to the people, as was the case for foreign institutions.

Source: GNA