The Local Government Service has said all streets in Ghana have been named but only 85 percent of the signage have been erected.
The 18-month deadline given to all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) by the President to implement the street naming and house numbering exercise expired on Tuesday, September 30.
In March 2013, President John Mahama launched the National Urban Policy Framework and Action Plan and admonished the Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development to ensure the project is well executed.
In November 2013 during an orientation programme for all MMDCEs, the President warned that the execution of the project will determine their continuous stay in office.
The Head of the Service, Dr. Calistus Mahama in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday insisted that “all the streets in Ghana have been named if you want to go by that technical definition; all of them have been named.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”JucCpANUFKWFwRoeDNrZmDc6oIom08PC”]“What probably you are not seeing is the mounting of the signage. That is not completed yet but all the streets and properties have been named,” he stressed.
Dr. Mahama mentioned that MMDCEs deserve commendation for working within the shortest possible time to execute the project.
He described the 85 percent work done as a “phenomenal achievement” given the pace at which most of the assemblies had to work.
The Local Government Service head admitted that the President’s deadline is up “but we are not going to end on the 30th and say that because the President said 30th, then the process is over.”
He attributed their inability to meet the deadline to the detailed processes which had to be followed to ensure the success of the project.
Dr. Mahama disclosed that the nation did not have a street naming and property addressing system policy, “therefore when the President gave the 18-month ultimatum, a policy had to be put together to guide the street naming process.”
According to him, a manual to interpret the process was also drawn and a training programme was also organized for all the 10 regions and the 216 districts.
He urged Ghanaians to bear with the Service and all MMDCEs while they work to complete the project.
He advised saying, “the end product matters very much but the foundation has to be laid…so it is not just the fancy of saying that all the streets have been named.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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