Assemblies urged to compile date data on property rates

Nkawkaw, Nov. 5, GNA - The Acting Head of the Local Government Service, Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, on Thursday urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies to compile accurate data on rates and tolls they generate annually.

He said with accurate data on rates and tolls, it would enable them to know the annual revenue to be generated from their internally generated funds to finance some of their development projects. Mr Oppong-Fosu said this when he addressed the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly at Nkawkaw as part of his visit to some new Municipal and District assemblies in the country to know the challenges facing them and find ways of solving them.

He said efforts were being made to involve the private sector in the construction of offices and residential accommodation for new assemblies since their Common Fund allocation and internally generated funds would not be enough to undertake those projects. Mr Oppong-Fosu advised the assemblies to take their revenue mobilization efforts seriously to generate adequate revenue to supplement their share of the common fund.

Mr Kofi Agama, a Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, said Legislative Instrument (LI) 1931 would soon be sent to Parliament to be enacted into law for the creation of the Central Civil Service and Local Government Service at the Ministry of Local Government.

He said the central civil service would cater for the ministries in Accra while the local government service would be responsible for the decentralization departments whose personnel would report directly to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies to enhance the success of the decentralization process.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Alex Somuah Obeng, said a greater percentage of the assembly's revenue was being spent on the payment of rent of its management staff.

He said that situation arose as a result of the assembly's inability to build a single bungalow for its staff since its creation five years ago. Mr Obeng said feeder and urban roads in the municipality were in deplorable condition coupled with poor sanitation problems and appealed for assistance from the central government to solve those problems. 05 Nov. 09