AMA plans rigorous revenue mobilisation

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is to embark on a rigorous revenue mobilisation drive with the projection to increase its revenue by 17.3 per cent this year.

According to the Chief Executive of the assembly, Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, the decision was the result of vigorous revenue mobilisation campaigns the assembly had embarked upon since 2009 which had seen a revenue increase of more than 100 per cent.

Dr Vanderpuije made this known when he addressed the first session of the sixth assembly of the AMA at its ordinary meeting in Accra yesterday.

Revenue rise

He explained that the AMA’s internally generated fund (IGF) in 2011 increased by GH¢20,323,193, representing 53.1 per cent, while in 2012, it increased by GH¢22,990,853.81, which represented 13.1 per cent.

With respect to 2013, he said revenue increased by GH¢25,100,000, representing 9.1 per cent, and in 2015 it recorded a GH¢32.145749.12 rise that represented 28 per cent.

“It is interesting to note that even though the 2015 account has not been closed, the assembly’s revenue has increased by 11 per cent, amounting to GH¢35,800,000,” he added.

His address, which periodically was greeted by loud applause and cheers from members of the assembly, touched on areas such as education, infrastructure, health, sanitation, agriculture, transportation, roads and the street-naming exercise.

Revenue activities for 2016
Highlighting some of the measures that would be put in place to improve its revenue collection, Dr Vanderpuije said the assembly would, in February this year, pursue the prosecution of people who defaulted in their tax obligations in 2015.

He added that all sheds and stalls in all markets would be marked to aid revenue collection and evaluation, in addition to an active data-taking exercise to ensure that all money collected reached the coffers of the assembly.

Education
On education, Dr Vanderpuije said the AMA, after the abolition of the shift system in the 2010/2011 academic year, had successfully completed and furnished 14 Millennium City Schools (MCSs) out of the 100 that were under construction as part of efforts to improve the quality of education in the country.

The assembly, he stated,would this year inaugurate newly completed MCSs in the first quarter and also cut the sod for the construction of six new schools under the Urban Development Grant by February 2016.

Aside from that, he said 382 schools with an enrolment figure of 60,285 pupils were currently benefiting from the Ghana School Feeding Programme which he described as a significant improvement.

Sanitation
To address the issue of waste collection in the metropolis, Dr Vanderpuije said the AMA, through its polluter pay principle, had registered 117,964 households and distributed 124,921 waste bins to those households to facilitate the collection of waste generated in the city.

Against that backdrop, he noted that the assembly, in its effort to sustain its fight against poor sanitation in the city, would close the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) dump site by the end of February 2016.

“The assembly will also close the Mallam Market dump site by the end of April 2016, while it will take delivery of waste bins from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for distribution within the metropolis,” he added.

He served notice that the assembly would arrest and prosecute people who disposed of refuse indiscriminately into drains, streets and open spaces.

In addition, he said all senior high schools within the metropolis without toilet facilities would be covered under the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP) that sought to improve sanitation and water supply in the GAMA area.

Disaster
Shifting his focus to disasters, Dr Vanderpuije said from June to December 2015 the assembly spent GH¢4730,981 on the management of disasters and that it would this year, through the Accra Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Project, construct storm drains at South Kaneshie, Mataheko, Achimota-Apenkwa, Chemu, Mampon, Dansoman (B), drains behind the ECG-Avenor, Odawna, Bubuashie-Kaneshie and the Kortey Lagoon.

He added that the assembly would continue to monitor and ensure that all unauthorised structures removed were not reconstructed.

Health
On health, he said the assembly, in 2015, recorded about 3,481 cases of HIV and AIDS and expressed concern that although the national prevalence rate was decreasing, that of the metropolis was increasing, for which reason he said the assembly was embarking on a massive public education campaign to limit the rate of infection.