Koforidua, July 24, GNA - The Government has earmarked GH=A260 million (60 billion cedis) of funds from the Highly Indebted Poor Country relief for street naming and a house numbering exercise in all regional capitals and major towns in the country.

The project, to be completed by March next year, is expected to enhance the capacity of Assemblies, particularly their internally generated funds by at least 50 to 200 percent.

Mr Abraham Dwuma Odoom, Deputy Minister, Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, announced this at a Workshop on the proposed Local Government Finance Bill for Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) and Assemblies from the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta Regions in Koforidua on Tuesday.

He said the Bill sought to provide a comprehensive law to guide the Assemblies in raising private capital and other resources. "Consequently, the bill establishes a Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) with a mandate to mobilize resources from both internal and external sources, channel them into productive infrastructure development and manage risk".

Mr Odoom said the Municipal Finance and Management Initiative was aimed at improving revenue and financing strategies of Assemblies and more importantly to link them to the financial market through the proposed MFA.

He said the country had come a long way in its decentralized system and expressed optimism that a smooth take-off of the project would lead to increased revenue generation by the assemblies. Mr Yaw Barimah, Eastern Regional Minister, said in recent years the country had been undertaking political decentralization, adding that the trend demanded that local governments strengthened their financial capacity.

He said decentralization was based on the recognition that participation of key local stakeholders, including local governments and communities was critical for economic growth and poverty reduction.