Achimota Eco-Park Project

Samuel Afari

Introduction: n 1888, the colonial government of the Gold Coast sent sample wood from the colony to England for tests on their working properties as industrial and construction timber. Following the favourable results from the tests, the government exported 3,360 cubic metres of Mahogany in 1881 and 84,900 cubic metres in 1913.

Since those times, the development and management of Ghana's forest resource base have focused on forest conservation, plantation development and timber exports, much to the near-neglect of wildlife management for eco-tourism development.

Although the Forest and Wildlife Development Master Plan, crafted more than a decade-and-half ago, attempts to seek equitable attention for the wildlife sector, that quest has not been vigorously pursued, resulting in the continual over-dependence on plantations, natural forests and timber exports for revenue generation from the forestry sector.

It is, largely to address this imbalance and tap the resource generation potential of the wildlife sector, especially, in eco-tourism, that the Forestry Commission will transform the Achimota Forest into an ecological enclave – the Achimota Eco-tourism Project.

Achimota Forest In Perspective
The Achimota Forest (AF) was gazetted in July 1930 to create a green buffer between the Achimota School and the city of Accra and to provide cheap fuel for the School. Those initial objectives changed with time to the provision of Nature Reserve, Recreation Park and Nature Study Facilities for children, students and researchers.

The Forest is three-hundred and sixty (360) hectares with an arboretum, a zoo and spiritual retreat enclaves, which are privately sponsored.

Presently, as an eco-tourism centre, the Achimota Forest attracts twenty thousand visitors and generates US$60,000 annually.

These statistics   compare oddly to those of the Nairobi National Park (NNP) in Kenya, which attracts ninety-six thousand (96,000) visitors and generates US$8 million annually although the two have some comparable characteristics.

Both are 'Big City Parks with easy access for potential visitors; both are subject to increasing encroachment pressures and both are state-owned.

However, the NNP is 117 kilometers with 400 recorded fauna species as compared to the Achimota Forest, which has 3.6 kilometers and few species, which hardly generate any keen interest among tourists. Indeed the NNP is well developed, in terms of infrastructure, fauna holding and its diversity, government commitment and civil society involvement.

It is, therefore, imperatively apt that the FC adopts, adapts and replicates some basics in the success story of the NNP for the Achimota Eco-Tourism Park.

The Achimota Eco-Park
The Achimota Eco-Park concept provides a great opportunity for eco-tourism and environmentally-friendly, money-churning venture worthy of enacting.

This pursuit, however, requires that the Achimota Forest is transformed from its current subsistence state. As the Acting Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Mr. Samuel Afari Dartey reasons:

“We should change the outlook of the Achimota Forest from its current status into a world-class eco-tourism enclave, from a traditional forest reserve into an ecological impact, tapping experiences from other countries, such as Kenya, Namibia and South Africa.”

In fact, the Achimota project is well-aligned and in rhythm with the fundamental mandate of the Forestry Commission (FC), which enjoins it to manage and develop the forest and wildlife resources and oversee and regulate the timber industry in Ghana.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is patently lucid on its commitment to the success of the Project.

“It is a very laudable idea and fits into government development plans. It is going to create a lot of jobs, enhance revenue generation and most importantly, it is going to help protect the land under reservation at Achimota.

The government will do everything possible to support this project to succeed,” the sector minister, Honourable Alhaji Collins Dauda has pledged.  

Of course, success is not wished into existence, though. Therefore, the FC has designed policies and strategies, which will leverage opportunities in the prosecution of the project.

For example, the FC conceptualizes an innovative design, which will compensate for the smaller size of the Achimota Eco-Park, relative to the Nairobi National Park, and still ensure full visitor-patronage, particularly from the local front. The Acting Chief Executive of the FC is clear on this:

“The success of every tourism project depends, largely, on local patronage and here, we wish and hope that Ghanaians will patronize the Achimota National Park project, the way foreigners will do.”  

Investment Opportunities
Eco-tourism requires sites and facilities, which combine beautiful scenery with comfortable accommodation and visitor-friendly ambient conditions. Herein lay investment opportunities for the private sector. These opportunities include:

•Eco-lodges constructed, primarily from wood or other 'green' materials  of standard specifications rather than from concrete and metal;

•Human Capital Development through the training of tour guides and hospitality services providers;

•Construction of Drive Safari of road network, landscaping, camping and picnic sites, Amusement  Park, Visitors' Reception and Spiritual Enclaves for prayers;

•Zoo and Vet Services, which include fencing, animal enclosures and blinds, animal orphanage and bio-diversity hotspots for research;

•Fauna supply, especially exotic species;
•Low-speed Drive Safari trail;
•Cultural Heritage enterprises, such as art and craft as well as gift shops;

•Construction of Children's Amusement Park
Funding
The Chief Executive of the FC identifies funding as crucial even as the spectrum of sources is wide and diverse.

“The major challenge could be funding and a project of such magnitude will require massive capital injection,” he acknowledges and explains that the FC shall “seek funding from both traditional and non-traditional sources, both local and sometime foreign, depending on the exigencies of the situation, to fund the Project.” Alhaji Dauda shares this view:

“I take this opportunity to invite investors, both local and external, to take advantage of this project.”

Notwithstanding its private-sector funding of the Project, the Forestry Commission may have to liaise with the central government and resort to its Internally Generated Funds as well donor support for the project.

The development partners of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources/FC, especially the European Union, have been extremely helpful and have shown keen interest, through the Wildlife Sector Development Project and other similar interventions, in the development of the wildlife sector of Ghana's forest resource base. Hopefully, they are willing and able to continue with that gesture.

Secondly, Public-Private Partnership arrangements, accessing the capital market and the Banks are other potential sources of funding for the project.

The FC envisions the active participation of local entrepreneurs and businesses in the Project, which it sees, not only as mitigating the adverse effect of age-old imbalance in the forest sector but also the commencement of the general overhaul of the wildlife sector in Ghana.

In situating the importance of the Project in a broader context of forest resources development in Ghana, the Environmental Specialist of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Accra, His Excellency Ton Van Der Zon sees the Eco-Park as “very important in the future role of the forest in view of integrity of bio-diversity and income generation of the Wildlife Division.”

Conclusion
The Achimota Eco-Park is full of promise and requires broad-based support for its implementation and success.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, just like the Forestry Commission, is unequivocal on this and Honourable Alhaji Dauda puts it more passionately:

“I am offering my personal commitment to this Project to ensure that it succeeds. Certainly, we will win in this Project and the government will go along with it.” Undoubtedly, the FC will need the patronage and support of the public to succeed.

By Robert Benjamin Wilson