SADA should revolve around growth poles to succeed- CCEIR
The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) should evolve growth poles such as the building of an international airport and development of tourist sites and industries in the North.
The authority should also target the growth of the shea industry and the development of iron ore, roads and irrigation facilities.
This was captured in a communiqué issued by the Centre for Continuing Education and Inter-disciplinary Research (CCEIR), University for Development Studies (UDS) at the end of the fifth in the series of the Harmattan Schools in Tamale.
The communiqué, which was read by Dr Seidu Alhassan, Director of CCEIR asked SADA to learn from the lessons from the success and failures of past development frameworks such as the Upper West Development Programme, Upper Region Agriculture Development Programme, Irrigation Company of Upper Region and the Northern Region Integrated Programme to enable it succeed.
The Harmattan School series was initiated by the UDS to provide a platform for academics, development practitioners and other stakeholders to deliberate on development issues concerning Northern Ghana in particular and Ghana as a whole.
The theme for this year’s school was: “Bridging the development gap between Southern and Northern Ghana: Prospects and Challenges of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority.”
The communiqué urged SADA to put in place an effective facilitating mechanism and establish a secretariat that must rise above parochial interest and agenda.
It said for sustainability to be high on SADA’s agenda it would need to effectively monitor the activities of its implementing agents.
The Communiqué called on government to clearly define the funding sources for SADA and ensure that they come from a sustainable and adequate medium transcending the normal budgetary allocations which was normally small and dispensed late.
The communiqué asked SADA to provide an efficient transport network to improve access to market for producers in Northern Ghana and also ensure an effective communication strategy which would be embraced by all Ghanaians.
Source: GNA