Good progress has been made since the Construction & Property Research Centre, University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, UK commenced its exploratory research into leveraging rising urban land/property values to finance urban infrastructure development in Ghana in August, 2015. The research is being implemented in collaboration with Ghana’s Local Government Service. The aim is to explore the potential to raise additional resources from rising urban land/property values to finance urban infrastructure development in Ghana using Accra, the country’s capital as a case study.
As part of activities scheduled to deliver the research the lead researcher and principal investigator, Dr Kwasi Gyau Baffour Awuah hosted a one-day stakeholders’ consultation workshop in Accra on March 30, 2016. The workshop took place at Cleaver House, adjacent to the Tigo Head Office along the Barnes Road in Adabraka, and it was co-ordinated by Dr Charles Kessey, Director of Research at the Ghana Local Government Service. The workshop sought to interact with key urban sector stakeholders, garner useful insights into the subject of the research and facilitated empirical data collection for a systematic delivery of the research project.
The workshop was attended by a cross-section of urban sector stakeholders in Accra. These included: the Chief Director of Local Government Service Secretariat (LGSS) Mr J.M. Dasanah, Mr Ernest Nyagbe, the Chief Director of Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council as well as officials from eight Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) namely: the Accra and Tema Metropolitan Assemblies, the Ledzokuku- Krowor, Ashiaman, Adentan, Ga East, Ga West and Ga South Municipal Assemblies, the Land Valuation, Public & Vested Lands Management and Survey & Mapping Divisions of the Lands Commission; the Town & Country Planning Department; Ghana Institutions of Surveyors, Planners and Engineers; and Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREEDA).
Presentations on topics critical to research were made by Dr Baffour Awuah and Dr Kwadwo Ohene Sarfoh- the Team Leader for Cities Alliance in Ghana to set the tone for the discussions.
Prominent among the issues discussed were firstly, the rising urban land/property values and the impact of infrastructure on urban land/property values in Ghana. Secondly, the potential to leverage rising land/property values to finance infrastructural development in the country, the arrangements/instruments by which it could be done and the conditions necessary for its success.
The policy implication of the research finding is to provide a platform and input for a large scale study across Ghana where: additional data will be generated; models would be tested; and methodologies, protocols and tool kits developed for implementation to generate additional resources to help address the country’s inadequate urban infrastructure as well as contribute to the achievement of one of the main objectives of the new Urban Policy.