[ 2017-01-16 ]

Ghana can’t eliminate slums now – Urban planner
An Urban Planning Analyst, Farouk Braimah, has
observed that it will be very difficult for the
government to eliminate slums in the short-term.
He said statistics available to him suggests that,
slums will still continue to exist in Ghana for
the next two decades. “Evidence across the world
doesn’t suggest that Ghana can eliminate slums.


Slums are a manifestation of poverty so if
somebody hasn’t got what it takes to provide a
decent home in a built environment…you call the
person living in a slum, but actually we are
discussing urban poverty.”

Farouk Braimah, who works in 34 countries
globally, and is also the Deputy Chair for the
Slum Dwellers International Network, while
speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday,
said “for Ghana, I can assure you that we will
continue to deal with slums in the next 15 to 20
years.” The planning analyst made the remark on
the back of a newly created ministry –the
Ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development,
which will be headed by Alhaji Sadique Boniface.

Mr. Braimah also suggested that, the only way the
new Ministry could succeed, is for government to
allocate enough funding for its operations since
such communities face major challenges like poor
housing conditions, water and sanitation issues,
financial problems among others. “If you have a
city which doesn’t provide for the poor,
definitely people are going to provide for
themselves and immediately you allow people to
provide housing for themselves you will find slums
springing up.

So the inner cities in the typical sense are the
decayed portions of your city. So when you plan a
city it is organic, after 50 years or so, if you
don’t expand and provide the services…the
existing human settlements will begin to decay,”
he explained.

Meanwhile, the Minister- Nominee, Alhaji Sadique
Boniface, also speaking on the Citi Breakfast
Show, said he is ready to collaborate with other
ministries to ensure such deprived areas in the
country are developed. “We will be thinking
about education and training within the Zongos.

We should be thinking about infrastructure in
reference to health and sanitation. We will also
be thinking about business support and business
development, centres for culture and arts, and we
should be talking about areas like security and
policing, and also try to make an attempt to
create some sanity within the Zongos,” he added.

Source - citifmonline.com

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