New Juaben Assembly to increase IGF

The New Juaben Municipal Assembly is set to embark on a strategic and vigorous move to increase its internally generated funds (IGF) to enable it execute more developmental projects next year.

Dr Kwaku Owusu Acheampong, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after the first section of the 7th assembly in Koforidua that, the assembly had adopted a scientific approach which would be disclosed in due course.

He said the assembly had not been able to achieve most of its development targets due to very low IGF it netted in previous years and vowed to ensure that, the scientific approach is executed to the letter to rake in more money.

Dr Acheampong said, the assembly cannot rely on external funding such as the District Assembly Common Fund and the Urban Development Grant.

“Most of our developmental projects become stand-still because of our over reliance on external funding which usually delay. In 2016 we are going all out to increase our IGF,”he stressed.

He said the assembly had contracted a consultant to enumerate all structures in the municipality to know the exact number to serve as a guide in the generation of IGF.

The MCE said the evaluation board has been tasked to value all buildings in the area to ensure that owners of these properties pay realistic fees to boost the IGF.

On education, Dr Acheampong pledged to end the shift system in the municipality by the end of September 2017.

He said more classroom blocks are being constructed in the various basic schools to achieve the feat.

He said, the assembly had recently completed and handed over a six-unit classroom block to the Nana Kwaku Boateng Basic School and works on another 12-unit classroom block has commenced on the same school compound to accommodate the growing children population in the catchment area.

“Mechanisms are also being put in place to give another classroom block to the Anglican Junior High School at Nsukwao to end the shift system there; it is the only school currently running a shift system in the New Juaben Municipality,” he said.

Dr Acheampong assured residents of areas with bad roads such as Trom, Magazin and Agavenya that the assembly would from next year fix all of them.