Mr. Alfred Opoku, the President of the Ghana Institute of Planners has called for the effective enforcement of the country’s land use and spatial planning guidelines to ensure sanity in the sector.
He said the country was well noted in drafting policies but weak in implementation, which had brought about indiscipline in the area of land use.
Mr Opoku said currently the national land use and spatial planning bill was before Parliament after which it would be passed into law to regulate the activities of stakeholders in the country.
Mr Opoku said this during a panel discussion held in Accra by the Ghana Journalists Association’s programme dubbed: ‘Business Advocate’ on Ghana Television.
The event is supported by BUSAC Fund, Embassy of Denmark, the United States Agency for International Development and the European Union.
Mr Opoku said the bill had been in Parliament for four years, adding that the urgency in passing it would help address outstanding issues affecting the country’s land use and planning activities.
He noted that it was the responsibility of the surveyors to furnish planners with the requisite data about a site to enable their outfit to design a plan for building, but this was not readily available due to limited human resource.
Mr Opoku explained that as a result of the situation, there was an overlap of responsibility between the surveyor and the planners.
He said the passing of the bill into law would empower communities to take charge and protect certain lands demarcated for social projects, as well as provide adequate data information on land for effective planning.
Mr. Gustav Kplom Asamoah, a member of the Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana, expressed concern about some activities of some planners who took over the duties of surveyors, thus posing problems to the construction industry.
He was of the view that when the bill is passed, it would clearly spell out the functions of planners and those of surveyors, to avoid an overlap.
However, the methods and approaches used by the public and private sector to influence the distribution of people and activities over various spaces of land had become a very important aspect of development, he added. Mr. Mohammed Alhassan, Principal Town Planning Officer, Town and Planning Council, said the passing of the bill into law would enhance good human settlement and ensure orderliness in the process of building.
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