Accra, Oct. 25 GNA - The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would from Thursday, October 26, 2006 begin a comprehensive re-valuation of properties in the Metropolis to meet the economic progression of the City.

The exercise would involve seven private contractors whiles the Land Valuation Board would also cover some specific areas. The re-valuation exercise is expected to be completed by March 2007.

Mr Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson, Chief Executive of the AMA, announced this while briefing the media in Accra on Wednesday on moves made by the Assembly in collaboration with the Land Valuation Board (LVB) to capture all properties in the City into the new system. The total cost of the project is estimated at 13.2 billions cedis and is expected to generate annual revenue of 40 billion cedis when the exercise is completed.

The last time a valuation was done on properties in the City was in 1986 under the Accra District Rehabilitation Project (ADRP) funded by the World Bank. An indexation of these values was done in 1995. Mr Adjiri Blankson said the re-valuation exercise was in line with the stated objectives of the Assembly to improve on its internally generated revenue from property rates, which had been identified as a major source of revenue for the AMA.

He said the AMA sought the assistance of the LVB in 2002 to assist it in this direction adding that the long delay had been due to the lack of funding to cover the re-valuation exercise.

He said the Assembly later took a decision to start the project by squeezing some money from its own resources to pay the initial bills. "We have been making frantic effort to secure some form of funding but have not been very successful," he said.

Mr Adjiri Blankson also said properties in Accra had become highly undervalued due to the significant macro economic changes over the years.

Most properties pay about 40,000 cedis for a whole year based on the existing valuation list.

He expressed the hope that the completion of the exercise would increase the rateable properties from the current figure of 65,000 to about 170,000.

The Mayor also appealed to the property owners, residents and businesses to cooperative with the field officers to ensure the success of the exercise.

He said the field workers who would be visiting properties in the Metropolis would have the official LVB and contracting firm's identity cards. 25 Oct. 06