Daasebre Osei-Bonsu II, Paramount Chief of the Asante Mampong Traditional area, has called for the institution of an effective regulatory body to look at the activities of Land Planners.
He said the lack of effective supervision and control as well as monitoring of work of planners had contributed immensely to the haphazard planning and congestion, especially in the newly developed areas of urban towns and cities.
Daasebre Osei Bonsu II made the call at the second in the series of zonal workshops on Human Settlement Policy, under the land use Planning and Management component of the Land Administration Project at Akyawkrom, near Ejisu.
The workshop, which was under theme "Developing a Human Settlement Policy for Ghana, a Concern of all", aimed at soliciting inputs from various stakeholders in the formulation of a policy guideline on land usage, planning and management.
Daasebre Osei Bonsu II also blamed the unauthorized buildings on water ways and public places in urban areas on some officers of the Town and Country Planning Department, who allotted lands to users without proper consultation, and urged Regional and District Directors of the Department to institute stringent measures to control their staff.
He charged participants to be bold in their deliberations and come out with rightful policies that could be implemented to solve the current human settlement problems in the country.
Mr Alistair Blunt, Project Manager, in his presentation said the workshops would encourage the development of a framework for the proposed law that would establish a new system of spatial and land use planning management in Ghana.
He said the three-year project, which started in April 2007 and would end in March 2010 needs a big injection of ideas as well as more people.
Mr Blunt hinted that, a computerized system for recruiting information on lands would be acquired to enable them to work quickly in the new proposals.
Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister, in his address read by the Ejisu Juabeng Municipal Chief Executive Mr. Yaw Ahenkorah Afrifa, said the Region among others has an organised traditional land management system on paper but its implementation was different.
He said it was imperative that land was managed to preserve the forest, agricultural practices, recreational, industrial and historical.
Mr Kofi Owusu-Akyaw, Regional Director for Town Planning and Regional Land Administration Project (LAP) Co-ordinator called on the government to provide the necessary logistics for the department to enable it to work effectively.