Takoradi, July 22, GNA - Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, on Thursday said the Ministry will soon present a Land Use Planning Bill to Parliament.

The bill, when passed into law, would establish an Authority that will regulate the use of land in the country to avoid mismanagement and other critical land issues particularly with the oil find.

Ms. Ayittey said this at the launch of the Sub-regional Land Use and Spatial Planning at Takoradi in the Western Region for the six Coastal Districts namely; Jomoro, Ellembelle, Nzema East, Shama, Agona West and the Sekondi/Takoradi.

The spatial project executed by Spatial Dimension Group and Consortium is a social responsibility programme by Tullow Oil Ghana and their Jubilee Partners.

The project under the theme: “Town Planning, an Imperative for a Sustainable Economy in the Western Region”, sought to create a comprehensive development framework that integrated social, economic and physical development to guide the growth and management of development in the chosen districts.

“The management of Land is already a crucial issue in this region. The current system where chiefs and other land owners give out lands and invariably endorse its use without recourse to planning authorities is unacceptable”, Ms Ayittey said.

Ms. Ayittey noted that the spatial planning would cover a sub-regional spatial plan for the Coastal Districts, districts structure plans for five coastal areas and a new city plan for the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis.

She noted that spatial planning had been a bane to the development of the country adding, “The cost of neglect for spatial concerns is now so visible across the length and breadth of the country”.

Ms Ayittey noted that the urban sprawl, congestions on the roads, insanitary conditions, imbalances between high levels of unemployed and unemployable people in the cities were all because of the failure to integrate spatial planning into the development agenda.

“We have lost almost 50 years as far as adhering to good practices in the town planning is concerned and what a better way to re-engage the subject in the Western Region especially at the dawn of our oil economy”, she added.

Ms. Ayittey urged the consultants on the project to engage with all relevant stakeholders in its preparation adding, “You should know that these plans are being prepared in collaboration with the respective assemblies who are both owners and beneficiaries of the plans”.

Dr. Toni Aubynn, Corporate Affairs Manager and a representative of the Jubilee partners, said the partners were committing over 1.6 million dollars for the production of the plans to serve as the basis for both structural and human development in the short to medium term.

He noted that aside the individual districts plans, there would also be complementary additions that would ensure that the districts also map out effective strategies and systems to transform their areas into growth poles thereby becoming hubs for socio-economic change.

Dr. Aubynn noted that by the plan, the perennial haphazard development associated with Regions where extractive industry activities take place would be abated.

He said experts are expected to collect data from households, public and private institutions and agencies and that, “I wish to implore all stakeholders, notably our revered chiefs to co-operate with the team for expeditious delivery of the final document”.