Ministry launches road naming programme
Mr Baba Jamal, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has stated that the Ministry would sanction Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) who fail to live up to expectation.
The Minister’s warning was specifically directed to the street naming and property addressing system.
Mr Jamal said the exercise is of high priority to the government and so MMDAs that shirks its responsibility in the successful implementation of the policy would be sanctioned.
The Minister gave the warning in Wa during the Regional Orientation and Launch of the manual on Street Naming and Property Addressing (SNPA) system for the country.
Mr Jamal who is also the Member of Parliament for Akwatia in the Eastern Region commended USAID, the Local Government Decentralisation Programme (LOGODEP) and Global Communities for funding the development of the practical manual.
He said the primary objective of the manual is to provide the MMDAs with a complete practical guide for street naming and property numbering as well as sign posting.
The benefits according to him include increase in revenue and improvement in urban management through the use of tools for planning and managing municipal services by the technical departments for the identification of public assets and tools to improve local tax collection using information gathered by street addressing initiatives.
“Street and property addressing as a system goes beyond the mere naming of streets and numbering of properties. It includes sensitisation, developing digitised maps on spatial development for use in the management of settlements and urban communities based on efficient and effective urban land use, planning and development control regime,” he said.
Mr Jamal said the Ministry is therefore organising the orientation for the MMDAs in order to sensitise them on the best approach to street naming.
Dr Ephraim Avea Nsoh, Upper West Regional Minister expressed appreciation to the MLGRD for starting the exercise in the region and appealed to stakeholders to make the area a reference point.
Mr Peter Fricker, USAID/LOGODEP Representative expressed satisfaction with the partnership and expressed the hope that stakeholders at the local level would give their best to ensure the successful implementation of the project.
Source: GNA