Mfantseman Assembly generates 82 per cent of estimated revenue

Saltpond (C/R), Dec. 28, GNA - The Mfantseman Municipal Assembly, as at November, collected GH¢219,951.48 as revenue against the estimated figure of GH¢268,716.00, representing 81.85 per cent.

For the same period in 2008, the Assembly realized GH¢195.972.44 representing 78.10 per cent of the estimated figure of GH¢250,900.00.

Mr Henry Kweku Hayfron, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) who said this at a meeting of the Assembly held at Saltpond, commended revenue collectors for making modest progress but added that there was room for improvement.

He said there were some potential for revenue generation in the municipality which were not being exploited and urged members to inform the Assembly of such potentials to be incorporated into the revenue list.

Mr Hayfron said out of the GH¢362,458.86 allocated to the Assembly as its second quarter share of the District Assemblies' Common Fund, only GH¢153,813.80 representing 42.44 per cent got to the Assembly, the rest went into deductions at the Common Fund Administration.

He said Community-Based Rural Development Programme (CBRDP) was financing execution of five projects in the municipality at a cost of GH¢136,993.85.

He said the CBRDP had also provided GH¢3,372.00 to the Ghana National Fire Service to train fire volunteers and create awareness on bush fire prevention.

Mr Hayfron appealed to Ghanaians to help find solutions to some of the problems facing the fishing industry such as the use of lighting for fishing whilst the government also tackled the issue of pair trawling.

He said the Assembly was building a cold storage facility at Kormantse to curb post-harvest losses.

He announced plans to expand the Information communication Technology (ICT) centre at Saltpond to enable it to accommodate 45 computers to facilitate its hooking to the internet and appealed to the people of the area to take advantage of the facility to become computer literate.

Mr Hayfron said the municipality had been selected for Student Youth Travel Organisation/Canada World Youth Programme, an exchange programme which involved the youths of Canada and Ghana visiting other's country to offer voluntary work such as teaching, malaria control and environmental sanitation.

He said the organizers had plans to run the programme for five continuous years in Mfantseman.

Mr Kofi Aikins, Presiding Member of the Assembly, urged members to unite to support the Assembly to raise the standard of living of the people.

GNA