Development Partners Pledge Support For SADA
Ghana’s development partners have pledged to make financial and technical commitments to the implementation of projects and programmes under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).
Representatives of the European Union Delegation, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the French Development Agency and the African Development Bank (AfDB), however, stressed the need for them to sit down with government officials to discuss the details of SADA and consider to collaborate on the implementation.
Making the pledge at the government/development partners conference on SADA in Accra Monday, the partners suggested to the government to develop SADA into a compact to facilitate the collaboration and implementation.
They described SADA as a good initiative that sought to create economic opportunities, reduce poverty and improve the living standards of the people of the three regions of the north and the northern parts of the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions.
The SADA was established by an Act of Parliament, SADA Act 805, 2010, to bridge the development gap between the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ) and the rest of Ghana. The NSEZ is considered the food basket of the country but comparatively underprivileged with low income.
The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, while welcoming the commitment of the development partners, indicated that the purpose of the conference was not for the donor partners to tell how much they would commit towards SADA.
Rather, he said, it was to create a forum to discuss SADA and forge a partnership with donor partners on how to support the strategy.
Mr Mahama said the NSEZ, which constitutes about half of the country’s land and one third of the country’s population, lagged behind the south in terms of development.
As a result, he said, many women and children who were the most vulnerable migrated from the north to the south and ended up as head porters.
The Vice-President said previous governments had realised the imbalance in development between the south and the north and mentioned the decision of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to introduce the Northern Development Fund as an example.
He said it was in that light that President Mills, based on the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) manifesto promise, initiated SADA by Act 805 of Parliament “to serve as a catalyst to lead the development efforts in the savannah area”.
The Vice-President said SADA was not a process but a strategy with many projects to promote socio-economic development in the savannah area within the next 20 to 30 years.
He said in line with the SADA objectives, several projects had been implemented, including the establishment of the shea nut processing plant, a cement production plant, while a groundnut oil processing plant was to start, all in the Northern Region.
He said one rice milling plant had been constructed, while two were on the drawing board. Also, 6,000 farmers had benefited from seeds and fertilisers and indicated that SADA, in collaboration with the UNDP, had also launched a housing project for the three regions of the north.
Mr Mahama said the core projects under SADA would begin next year and stressed the need for more financial and technical support to the authority.
He said SADA would also collaborate with the Volta River Authority (VRA) to build a hydro electricity plant at Pwalugu at the cost of $350 million to provide power for the people in the area, while the Tamale Airport was going to be expanded.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffour, indicated that the government had committed GHc30 million in the 2012 Budget to support the operational financing of SADA.
He said the government was expected to raise GH¢200 million seed money to support the investment financing of SADA.
Dr Duffour said China had committed $1.6 million towards SADA, while the DFID, the UNDP and the World Food Programme (WFP) had already given financial and technical support to SADA.
He reiterated the government’s commitment towards supporting the implementation of the programme.
The Country Representative of the UNDP, Ms Ruby Sandy-Rojon, who chaired the occasion, stressed the need for collaboration between the government and donors to promote the socio-economic development of the people in the savannah area.