Delivering Priority Infrastructure, Improved Services and Planned Cities for Urban Management: An Inclusive Approach to implementing the New Urban Agenda and achieving the SDGs

The event aims at presenting the initiatives planned and implemented by the GoG for delivering priority municipal infrastructure towards improved service delivery and improved revenue generation for beneficiary Local Authorities. It will also present progress, lessons learnt and experiences on the Ningo Prampram Planned City Extension project; a collaboration between the Government of Ghana and the UN-Habitat.

Ghana is rapidly urbanizing; in 2000 the Population and Housing Census (PHC) of the Ghana Statistical Service classified the country as 52 per cent urbanized. Local Authorities in Ghana are classified as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs); and of these, 6 were Metropolis and 54 Municipals. The Government through its relevant agencies committed to addressing the attendant urban challenges and harness its potentials. Ghana's participation in the preparation of the New Urban Agenda and commitment to the SDGs provided an impetus for continued interventions.

This Event intends to share with participants the achievements and challenges interventions of the Government of Ghana in urban spaces as a case study and strategy for incorporating the New Urban Agenda in National Plans. The event will also showcase how urban interventions promote inclusion through poverty reduction strategies and infrastructure delivery for improved services. Summarily the event will seek to address the following:

1. Infrastructure delivery is a major catalyst for improved service delivery and inclusion

2. Urban development presents opportunities for improved participatory planning for building resilience of Cities

3. Sanitation services is critical for job creation and environmental management in a rapidly urbanizing world and

4. Partnerships are essential for achieving the potentials of urbanization, especially in LDCs and Developing Countries.

Major Agreements will be signed between the GoG and Partners:

1. A renewed agreement between the GoG and UN-Habitat to complete the Planned City Extension Project in Ningo Prampram

2. Agreement (MoU) between the GoG and AFD to continue support for implementing the New Urban Agenda by extending GUMPP to other Secondary Cities in Ghana

3. An MoU signed between Developing & Least Developed Countries and the Ministry of Water and Sanitation and Zoomlion for Knowledge Sharing and Sanitation Service delivery in their respective countries.