State of the World Population Report launched

Accra, June 27, GNA - Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday launched this year's World Population Report and said the increase in urbanisation was inevitable but had positive sides that should be recognised.

Launching the report jointly with Ms Hane Fama Ba, Director of the Africa Division of the UNFPA, headquarters in New York, Mr Baah Wiredu said "no country in the industrial age has ever achieved significant economic growth without urbanisation". The report under the theme: "Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth", looked at the problems faced by cities and the struggle to meet the current needs to prepare for future urban growth. The Minister outlined problems associated with urbanisation such as housing, poverty, and slums and admitted that the implementation of the country's on going Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) had an implication on the spatial mobility of economically active individuals and the growth of urban areas.

"The influx of rural poor to the urban centres therefore is an indication to the poor to take advantage of the opportunities in the urban areas. In 2001 for instance, the number of people living in slums in Ghanaian cities was estimated at 4.9 million and was said to grow at the rate of 1.8 per cent per annum".

The Minister noted that to address problems associated with urbanisation, government had set priority strategies to upgrade slums areas through the strengthening of physical planning of urban settlements and enforcement of planning regulations.

He mentioned other strategies as promoting adequate supply of safe and affordable shelter, developing and promoting local building materials, facilitating adequate finance for all income groups and upgrading basic services in the urban areas.

Mr Baah Wiredu explained that there were advantages in urban areas over and above those in the rural areas in Ghana in terms of economic opportunities though urban poverty was real.

He said the latest Living Standards Survey for 2007 had shown that whereas poverty levels had generally increased, it had worsened in the Greater Accra Region.

He mentioned HIV/AIDS, housing and shelter, drainage, water and sanitation, as well as transport as some of the areas posing challenges not only to Ghana but the continent as a whole. He commended UNFPA for the leading role it had played in the dynamics of population and pledged to tackle the obstacles of urbanisation and share the benefits through prudent policies, good governance and strategic investments.

Ms Fama Ba noted that poor people would make up a large part of the future urban growth and called for realistic planning for explicit consideration of the needs, rights and participation of slum dwellers and the urban poor.

She said African governments that are responsive to their citizens and eager to achieve a sustainable growth path were increasingly looking to their cities and local authorities to play a greater role in the national development agenda".

Dr Makane Kane, Country Director of UNFPA, Ghana, said the report was timely to address the global, regional and national dimensions of urban growth and proposals for the way forward at each level. He expressed the hope the report would lead to policy development and policy change where needed.

Dr George Owusu, a Research Fellow of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana who commented on the report called for urban Development Strategy or Urban development Policy to address problems associated with urbanisation. Ms Grace Gyimah Boateng, President of Curious Minds, a non-governmental organisation, who spoke on the Youth Perspective called for partnership, dialogue and investment in the youth to address the enormous problems facing the youth affected by urbanisation. The report said half of the world's population comprising 3.3 million, will in 2008 be living in urban areas. It said the number is expected to swell to almost five billion by 2030. The urban population will double between 2000 and 2030 with many of the dwellers becoming poor, it added.