THE Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has approved a budget of GH¢300,000 for the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) for the procurement of vehicles, computers and accessories, as well as drawing materials that will enhance effective and efficient operations of the department.
It is also to enable the TCPD rehabilitate its offices and provide special training to a number of employees in order to inject efficiency in its operations.
The acting Director of the TCPU, Mr Asiedu Poku, who announced this at a four-day workshop organised in Kumasi, commended the sector ministry for its support.
He said budgetary allocation would not only help to inject efficiency into their operations, but would also enable them to address some key challenges that undermined their operations.
The workshop, on the theme: “Building capacity for a better image for the Town and Country Planning Department” was attended by regional and district planning officers.
It aimed at bringing the officers together to deliberate on the current state of the department and strategies needed to enhance professionalism in its operations.
It was also to offer the officers the needed orientation on the financial management and procurement process for special projects, deliberate on how to improve medium-term plans for the 2010-2013 planning period, and update them on the Land Use Planning and Management Project (LUPMP).
Expressing concern about the operations of the TCPD, Mr Asiedu Poku noted that “personnel of the department lacked common understanding of certain key issues; there was no operational co-ordination between the regional offices and the head office on several other issues related to the functions, vision and mission of the department”.
He pointed out that shortcomings “have resulted in inefficiency in the department’s operations, leading to a rather low image”.
Recalling the rationale behind the establishment of the TCPD, the acting director noted that the TCPD, which was established in 1945, was considered crucial because it was felt that the economic and social transformation envisioned for the country at the time was not going to be possible without a full fledged institutional structure to provide guidance for investment in space and human settlement growth and development”.
“Consequently, the TCPD became the pivot for the famous Seven Year Plan for National Reconstruction and Development (1963-70) which was prepared under the visionary leadership of Dr Kwame Nkrumah,” he stressed. Mr Asiedu Poku said at that time, the TCPD led the process of “preparing several other national plans for the nation as a whole and all the major cities, notably Accra-Tema, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Cape Coast”.
He said unlike the past, where the public held the department in high esteem due to its proficiency in service delivery, they now had the perception that the department was not only inept, but also inefficient and ineffective in their operations.
He attributed the public perception to the narrow appreciation of national planning “to mean only economic planning, resulting in the neglect or mediocre investment in spatial planning, thereby weakening the capacity of the department to perform any meaningful role”.
He said notwithstanding the challenges confronting them, there was the need for the management to salvage the department’s sinking image by being innovative and proactive in their operations.
Mr Asiedu Poku said as part of their initiatives, management had commissioned consultancy services “to undertake comprehensive institutional studies, including legal reviews and make recommendations for the reformation of institutional structures for effective human settlement planning and management in Ghana”.
He gave the assurance that the Land Use Planning Bill, expected in Parliament for passage “would also bring into being the Town and Country Planning Authority and streamline spatial planning and enforcement procedures for sustainable human settlement development in Ghana”.
He said as part of the measures to inject efficiency in the department’s operations, about 321 officers, involving technical officers and professional planners, had been trained in spatial planning and management tools.
He said their training also involved the application of Map Maker software in the preparation of spatial plans.
He said consideration was also being given to the capacity building plan development under the LUPMP for implementation, and assured that many people would benefit from the training programmes “ specifically designed to enhance the department’s operations”.
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