The Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly on Monday held a Town Hall Meeting with Stakeholders at Darkuman in Accra to brief them on the assembly's Four-Year Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP).
This is in line with the decentralisation policy of the government and the assemblies , which required the preparation and implementation of their development plans to ensure the overall development of their respective areas.
Addressing the forum at Darkuman in Accra, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Kofi Ofori, said to achieve the status of a decentralised Public Administrative System, a Needs Assessment was collated from stakeholders last year, and that information formed the basis for the development projects and programmes as inputs into the MTDP and Annual Action Plan of the assembly.
He stressed that every project or programme of the assembly would be " community-driven" and that no project would be undertaken outside the assembly's planned activities.
He encouraged them to take ownership of every project being undertaken by the assembly or the central government adding that based upon the inputs from the stakeholders, the assembly completed the maintenance of 250 streetlights across the municipality with the installation of 100 more in the offing.
The assembly he said, awarded on contract for construction a two-storey 12-unit classroom block at Kwashieman Cluster of Schools and a six-unit classroom block at Odorkor Maclean Cluster of Schools.
In order to protect the Saleria Cluster of Schools from encroachment, Mr. Ofori said the assembly would be fencing the school and also put up a Kindergarten (KG) block for the pre-school pupils.
On roads, the MCE said, the Department of Urban Roads had begun sealing eight kilometres of selected roads from Darkuman and would affect other surrounding areas such as Kwashieman, Awoshie and Odorkor.
He said another 2.5 kilometres had also started from Sakaman.
Mr Ofori bemoaned the indiscriminate dumping of refuse into drains, on the streets and dark spots despite the rigorous public education by the Sanitation Ministry and the assembly, and described it as a " major setback in the sanitation and waste management situation "
The Development Planning Officer of the assembly, Hajiah Mamata Musah Sheriff said the forum was an opportunity for the stakeholders to know what the assembly had done, and what would be done in the future.
She said when the municipal assembly was carved out of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), it had to fashion out its own development agenda based on the President's and nation's vision of " Agenda for Jobs-Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunities for All"
She said since inflows from the central government were limited, but Internally Generated Funds (IGF) were limitless and citizens should assist the municipal assembly to raise more revenue to develop the area in order to improve the quality of life for them.