Singaporean High Commissioner to Ghana confers with Kumasi Mayor
The Singaporean High Commissioner to Ghana, His Excellency(HE) Hawazi Daipi, on Tuesday March 26, 2019, led a delegation to pay acourtesy call on the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Kumasi, Hon OseiAssibey Antwi.
The visit, amongst others, was to expressSingapore’s keen interest in building a strong relationship with the KumasiMetropolitan Assembly (KMA).
HE Daipi said Singapore attaches much importance toenvironmental sustainability, and in pursuance of their objectives they werewilling to work with Ghana in attaining the sustainable development goal (SDG)15.
The goal emphasizes the need to protect, restore andpromote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managed forests,combat desertification, halting and reversing land degradation, as well asbiodiversity loss.
The Singaporean High Commissioner observed that hiscountry had relocated all car manufacturing companies outside the cities toavoid pollution.
In addition, his government as a legislation hadalso put restrictions on the number of vehicles allowed to ply the streets tolimit the amount of carbon emitted into the air for the wellbeing of thepeople.
HE Daipi indicated that the two countries shouldcontinually share development experiences, while promoting technology transferfor the growth of their economies.
Hon. Assibey Antwi, in his welcome address,elaborated on various projects being implemented by the Nana Akufo-Addo-ledgovernment, including the ‘Free Senior High School (SHS)’ policy, ‘Planting forFood and Jobs (PFJ)’, ‘One District, One Factory (1D1F)’ project, ‘One District,One Dam’, and other novelty programmes structured to make life comfortable forthe people.
Commenting on the government’s ‘Youth in AfforestationProgramme’, the Honorable Mayor explained that the initiative was gearedtowards improving the vegetation cover of the nation in general.
It was for this reason, he said, that the Assemblyhad over the last two years been implementing a project dubbed ‘Keep KumasiClean and Green’, which had so far, seen it plant various tree species toimprove the biodiversity and ecology.
Hon. Assibey Antwi, in reacting to the HighCommissioner’s question on his greatest challenge in the past two years of histenure, cited congestion at the Central Business District (CBD) of Kumasi, inadequatefunding from both Internally Generated Fund (IGF) and donor funding forinfrastructural development, as well as waste management.
The MCE appealed to the High Commissioner to assistGhana in attracting investors from Singapore in order to help develop Kumasiinto a city that befitting its status as the ‘Garden City of West Africa’.
He cited food processing, housing regeneration,development of the Kumasi Airport, modern car parks, area of tourism as some ofthe investment opportunities available.
StoryBy: Kesse Alfred