President John Dramani Mahama has pledged his commitment \u00a0to champion the cause of sustainable urban\u00a0 development\u00a0 in\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Africa, working in collaboration with fellow African leaders.<\/p>\n
President Mahama made the commitment when he addressed the United Nations (UN) Habitat 7th World Urban Forum (WUF7) currently underway at Medellin, Colombia, following an invitation extended to him by the UN-Habitat to champion the African Urban Agenda for sustainable urban development.<\/p>\n
The WUF7 event is being held on the theme: \u00a8Urban Equity in Development \u2013 Cities for Life,\u00a8 and will focus on seeking ways to strengthen and develop institutional framework for sustainable urban development and housing.<\/p>\n
He said\u00a0African\u00a0leaders\u00a0and\u00a0ordinary\u00a0citizens together had\u00a0to\u00a0urgently\u00a0craft interventions that\u00a0\u00a0 will make their cities viable in the face of the challenges they faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese interventions\u00a0must create\u00a0equal\u00a0opportunity\u00a0for\u00a0all\u00a0our people to take\u00a0advantage\u00a0of\u00a0the African\u00a0dream\u201d, he added.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018<\/p>\n
President Mahama indicated that the\u00a0Arab Spring\u00a0had\u00a0taught Africa\u00a0that\u00a0it\u00a0was no longer \u00a0acceptable\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to be\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ambivalent\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 about\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 needs\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 poor\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 marginalized\u00a0\u00a0 in\u00a0\u00a0 society.<\/p>\n
He observed that in\u00a0\u00a0 the \u00a0next\u00a0\u00a0two\u00a0decades\u00a0 African urbanisation\u00a0\u00a0 will\u00a0continue \u00a0to\u00a0\u00a0 grow rapidly, and\u00a0 towns \u00a0in the\u00a0Sahelian regions\u00a0\u00a0will\u00a0\u00a0grow\u00a0 just\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0as\u00a0 fast\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 as\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 coastal \u00a0cities.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe implementation of innovative concepts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 urban\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 development\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 corridors\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mega-\u00ad\u2010urban\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 regions\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 longer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 question of \u2018if\u2019, but \u2018when\u2019 \u201d.<\/p>\n
President Mahama said\u00a0\u00a0although\u00a0 \u00a0the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0phenomenon \u00a0of mega-\u00ad\u2010urban regions \u00a0and \u00a0corridors reflected the extent of the challenge\u00a0\u00a0 African countries faced,it also indicated the potential for investment \u00a0and \u00a0the opportunity for\u00a0 economic growth, whereby domestic \u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0 foreign \u00a0investors\u00a0\u00a0 had\u00a0\u00a0 the \u00a0opportunity to forge\u00a0\u00a0 partnerships with\u00a0\u00a0 central and local governments to invest in infrastructure, service and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 industry.<\/p>\n
In a speech,\u00a0President Senor Juan\u00a0Manuel\u00a0Santos\u00a0of Colombia said the commitment of world leaders are needed in order to achieve transformation of well-planned urban cities.<\/p>\n
He said Colombia was more than willing to listen and learn from all the experts gathered at the forum.<\/p>\n
President Santos noted that a few years ago Medellin was full of filth and drug related cases, with three out of four Colombian citizens living in urban areas.<\/p>\n
He further\u00a0stated that housing was one of the things that will get the world out poverty, adding, \u201cNot just social housing, but decent housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr \u00a0Jan Clos, Executive\u00a0Director of UN-\u00ad\u2010Habitat, and Mr. Anibal Gaviriia\u00a0Correa, Mayor of Medellin also took turns to address the forum<\/p>\n
WUF7 will serve as a platform to determine the guidelines for Habitat III, the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development scheduled for 2016.<\/p>\n
It will also look at progress in understanding the role of local governments in drafting proposals and policies for urban development.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: GNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President John Dramani Mahama has pledged his commitment \u00a0to champion the cause of sustainable urban\u00a0 development\u00a0 in\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Africa, working in collaboration with fellow African leaders. President Mahama made the commitment when he addressed the United Nations (UN) Habitat 7th World Urban Forum (WUF7) currently underway at Medellin, Colombia, following an invitation extended to him by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":6744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[43,38,17],"class_list":["post-11961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-foresight-medical-center","tag-palaver-newspaper","tag-wassa-akropong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}