Develop effective mechanism to deal with building permits – Metro Director

Mr Isaac T. Adjovu, Metro Coordinating Director of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), has tasked the Town and Country Planning Department to develop effective mechanism to deal with the delay of issuing building permits.

“Any officer, who without any justifiable reason, causes delay in the process of development application will be penalized,” Mr Adjovu warned at a management meeting on Thursday with Heads of Department in Accra.

The meeting was to address challenges confronting various sub-metros and find solutions.

He said the proliferation of unauthorized structures like kiosks and containers had debased the beauty and status of Accra and attributed part of the problem to some staff at the sub-metro who issue illegal permits.

“Officers who give out any permit other than the AMA Planning Committee commits an offence and would be brought to book,” he said.

Touching on sanitation, Mr Adjovu said while some countries' solid waste was an essential commodity which attracted buyers, Ghana's waste had become a huge problem.

He said AMA was developing a new system for effective collection of waste management fees.

Mr Adjovu said the initiative would enable AMA to generate resources to support service delivery and reduce a huge financial burden on government.

He said as part of measures to solve its numerous problems, a re-valuation survey of businesses and properties in Accra had been completed to provide reliable data that would help generate revenue as well as effective monitoring.

Mr Adjovu said the Assembly would soon introduce customer care at every unit to enable the public to reach their sub-metro when there was any complaint to be dealt with.

“The change of government should not deter us from working with commitment, dedication and loyalty to help develop the nation. We just need to understand the policies and programmes of the government and play our respective role to ensure successful implementation in the interest of the public,” Mr Adjovu advised.

GNA