The Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development (MLGRD) has secured a €40 million funding from the French Agency for Development (AFD) to implement the Ghana Urban Management Pilot Project (GUMPP) in four major cities.

Cities selected for the project include Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale and Ho.

Akwesi Opong-Fosu, Minister, MLGRD, who made this known at the Meet-the-press encounter in Accra yesterday, said under the GUMPP, the ministry would facilitate the preparation of street naming and structure plans for Ho and Tamale.

“Local plans and schemes would also be prepared for Kumasi and Takoradi to guide growth and development.

“The project will also ensure property rating and installation of revenue mobilization software in Ho, Kumasi, Tamale and Sekondi-Takoradi,” he said.

Mr. Opong-Fosu said the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) had been paid up to the third quarter of 2013, stating that Cabinet had directed his outfit and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to work to clear the backlog of the fourth quarter of 2013 and first quarter of 2014.

He said the ministry as part of its efforts aimed at strengthening the Metropolitan, Municipal, District Assemblies (MMDAs) had provided investment and capacity building grants under the District Development Facility (DDF) and Urban Development Grant (UDG).

“Since its inception, GH¢36, 806 has been transferred under UDG while GH¢332, 293 has been transferred under the DDF to MMDAs,” Opong-Fosu said.

He said plans were underway to transfer the latest DDF and UDG allocations to MMDAs.

During the period under review, Mr. Opong-Fosu said a total amount of GH¢73 million was transferred to MMDAs based on 2010 Functional Organization Assessment Tool (FOAT) for infrastructure development.

“All MMDAs have utilized the funds for the provision of social and economic infrastructure, including education, health and sanitation,” he said.

Mr. Opong-Fosu said the provision of educational, health and sanitation facilities from District Development Facility (DDF) investment had contributed immensely to improving access to basic services and also increased the infrastructure stock of the MMDAs.