Sunyani Assembly mobilises GH197, 615.57

The Sunyani Municipal Assembly in January-February, mobilised GH197,615.57, Mr Kwasi Oppong Ababio, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said on Thursday in Sunyani.

Mr Ababio, who was speaking at the Assemblys first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the sixth term to elect a Presiding Member (PM), stated that the amount represented 14.75 per cent of the 2014 target of GH1,339,564.70 Internally Generated Fund.

The MCE mentioned property rates, land rents and tolls, royalties, building and housing permits, licenses, fees, fines and penalties as some of the sources from which the Assembly generated the money. He pledged to put in place necessary measures and mechanisms to enable the Assembly to achieve the set target for the year.

Mr Ababio announced that the Assembly had been granted approval to execute some projects which would be financed through its share of the Urban Development Grant. He said the Assembly had gone through tender process and awarded contracts for four of those projects to eligible contractors for execution.

The projects include the construction of a two storey six-unit classroom block with offices, stores and four-seater KVIPs each at Yahimakrom and Kyiribogya in the Municipality.

Mr Ababio added that the assembly had advertised seven projects for implementation this year with funding from the 2011 allocation of the District Development Fund.

He said there would be improvement at the Feeder Roads sector as seven feeder roads in the Municipality had already been awarded on contract by the Government for reshaping.

Mr Ababio expressed concern about the number of rainstorm disasters experienced in the Municipality during the first quarter of the year, saying the cost of destruction to some affected school buildings and other valuable assets were estimated at GH13,400.00.

He asked the affected schools to plant trees on their compounds to serve as wind breaks to check wind and rain storms. Mr Ababio urged prospective house owners to adhere to approved building patterns in the countrys planning scheme.

He said to maintain cleanliness in the Municipality, the Assembly would soon come out with byelaws to instruct all shops and store owners to place dustbins in front of their shops and stores.

The MCE said if this is not done Sunyani would lose its reputation as the clean city in Ghana. The incumbent Presiding Member (PM), Mr Agbedra Sanyo Yao was re-elected as a sole contestant in a third round of voting that was supervised by officials of the Sunyani Municipal Office of the Electoral Commission .

He polled 36 votes with four against after an earlier two rounds of voting could not produce the needed majority for an election of PM. His two opponents, Messrs Mohammed Seidu, a Government appointee and Joseph Appiah, Assembly Member for Estate, a suburb in Sunyani stepped down following the two unsuccessful attempts to elect the PM.

Mr Yao in an acceptance speech expressed gratitude to members for the confidence reposed in him and appealed to them to bury their differences for unity to forge ahead for the development of the Municipality. He was sworn into office by Mr John Ekow Mensah, a Circuit Court Judge in Sunyani.