Minister appeals to KMA to promote business in the metropolis

Kumasi, Oct 10, GNA - Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, has appealed to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to be more proactive and initiate plans that would assist in promoting business, especially, micro-entrepreneurship in the metropolis. He also asked the assembly to promote vocational training to equip the youth with employable skills to reduce unemployment and to enable the private sector to assert itself as the engine of growth of the economy.

Mr Boafo made the call at the launch of KMA/Cities Alliance Project on Thursday.

The project, which is an attempt to draw and implement a sustainable and an all-encompassing long-term City Development Strategy (CDS) for Kumasi, is collaboration between the assembly and the Cities Alliance group of the World Bank.

Mr Boafo expressed the hoped that through the CDS, KMA would be able to design development plans that would be consistent with the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy objectives.

Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the KMA Chief Executive, said over the past decades, the development of Kumasi was based on short-term and ad-hoc development plans, which were limited in scope and deficient in participation.

This, he said, had not allowed the city that was centrally located to be developed to commensurate with its unique status. Mr Jumah said, under the CDS, the assembly would be assisted to draw comprehensive development plans together with requisite funding proposals.

He said the measure would assist in addressing urban poverty and sanitation problems, increasing income-generating capacity for the assembly and facilitate the administration of the city through expanded opportunities for the vulnerable in the society.

He said the broader objective of the project would be achieved by expanding the "voice of the poor and marginalized in decision-making and policy formulation in the designing and implementing of CDS in tandem with the vision and aspirations of all stakeholders.''

Mr Jumah said the Assembly had embarked on a series of consultative workshops with all identifiable stakeholders to come out with a consensus strategy that would define the collective development vision of residents.

He appealed to all stakeholders to contribute their quota to fashion out CDS that could stand the test of the time. 10 Oct. 03