Source: Graphic Online

By: Zainabu Issah

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is to benefit from a project under which it will be assisted to become resilient to challenges such as disasters.

Dubbed, “100 Resilient Cities”, the project is being pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic organisation and private foundation based in the United States of America ((USA).

The project will also help the AMA to learn how to adapt to physical, social and economic challenges such as the high unemployment rate and the inefficient public transport system.

Benefits 

Speaking at a resilience agenda setting workshop in Accra yesterday, the President of the 100 Resilient Cities, Mr Micheal Berkowitz, said the AMA was chosen among 32 city adminstrations to become a member of the foundation to benefit from some resources to facilitate the sustainability of the two-year project.

The resources, he said, included financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position, a chief resilience officer (CRO), who would lead the city’s resilience efforts, and support for the CRO to lead stakeholders in the development of a resilience-building strategy.

Others are access to tools, service providers and partners from the private, public and non-profit sectors who can help cities  develop and implement their resilience strategies.

Laudable effort

For his part, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye, lauded the AMA for opting to become a member of the resilient cities in the world.

He said currently the city was over-populated and that created problems for the assembly, hence the need for it to join efforts with other assemblies and cities worldwide to learn how to curb the situation.

He urged the various assemblies to not only conform to rules and regulations that made other notable cities better but also adopt best practices from those areas to minimise the incidence of shocks such as floods, waste management, environmental degradation and pollution and lack of potable water.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, lauded the Rockefeller Foundation for choosing Accra to be part of the 100 resilient cities and urged other assemblies in the country to emulate the efforts of the AMA.

The Chief Executive of the AMA, Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, said the government was committed to developing the country and urged stakeholders to come on board.