Tema (Greater Accra) -- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday launched the 50th anniversary of the creation of Tema Township and the bid to transform it into a modern city.
Speaking at the ceremony he urged the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) to develop the town to attract businesses to the city.
The President also cut the sod for the construction of a Tema World Centre Village (TWCV) near the Meridian Rock at the beach where longitudes zero degree, the Greenwich Meridian Line passes.
He said the time is ripe for the city to be developed to get closer to the entire world. The multi-billion cedis village, which will be constructed in phases, is meant to be a purpose-built place to attract tourists to the centre of the world.
Fifty years ago, the first Republic, under the late President Kwame Nkrumah acquired a 63 square miles of land from the natives of Tema, Kpone and Nungua and entrusted it to the TDC to develop into an industrial area.
President Kufuor said Tema is sited on a strategic position that a well-planned business centre could serve the world, because it provides quick access to all parts and must showcase the best of the nation as it strives to achieve its destiny as the gateway to Ghana and the rest of the sub-region.
As people go to the North and South Poles to transact business, so must Tema be the centre of the world for equal attraction, that is why the government appreciates the potential of the project and would give it full backing to ensure its success, he said.
"Whether it is housing, telecommunications, road or rail facilities, Tema will have to provide the most modern and up to date for them to stand a chance of attracting business and must have a solid reputation for law, order and security," he said.
President Kufuor, therefore, charged planners and developers of Tema to constantly be alive to the needs and requirements of the city and not limit their horizons, because there are no boundaries within the global market or to the ingenuity and innovativeness of the human imagination.
Tema might have additional job responsibility on the completion of the modernization of the port, as well as the turn around time for vessels at the port, which now serves landlocked countries as well.
The President urged residents of Tema to protect the reputation of the city, as they would do to their hometowns and work hard to project it to the outside world. He cautioned the people to observe strict environmental and health practices to avoid contagious diseases particularly with the upsurge of the AIDS menace.
Mr. Yaw Barimah, Minister of Works and Housing said his Ministry is making efforts to resolve the problems such as land acquisition, long-term credit and construction finance, as well as the high cost of building materials.
In this direction, the Ministry has intensified action in sourcing and acquiring 50,000 acres of land in Accra and the other regional capitals to establish land banks for housing delivery and serviced plots made available to individuals and organisations to build houses.
The Minister said the Ministry would facilitate research into the development and utilization of locally manufactured building materials.
To ensure orderliness in the city, Mr. Barimah impressed on the TDC and Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) to advise developers to respect planning laws, building codes and regulations to provide healthy working and living environment.
Ms Elizabeth Mansah Banson, Acting Managing Director of the TDC said the TDC and TMA were working to meet the varied and increasing needs of residents, particularly in the area of infrastructure, environmental sanitation and security.
From 1952 to date, she said, the TDC has developed 22 residential communities out of the 23 communities envisaged by late Dr Nkrumah and regretted that the increasing rural-urban drift has stemmed the rising demand for residential accommodation.
Ms Banson announced that the Greenwich Council in London, which is linked with the city of Tema, has pledged to solicit funds from the European Union to support the Tema World Centre Village and other facelift projects.
Besides the village, other projects lined up for the 50th anniversary celebrations include the lighting up of Accra-Tema Motorway and the beach road, landscaping of various parks and decorations of some streets in the metropolis.
Mr Samuel Evans Ashong Narh, MCE gave a brief history of how the natives of Tema were moved from the site of the Tema harbour to their present settlement of Tema Manhean. Present at the ceremony were representatives of industrial concerns, organisations in Tema, Chiefs, market women and school children.
