Saltpond (C/R), Dec. 31, GNA - The Mfantseman District Assembly has constituted a revenue monitoring team to collect outstanding money owed the assembly.

It has also set up team to educate the people on the need to pay their taxes regularly and to honour other social obligations for development.

Mr Robert Quainoo-Arthur, the District Chief Executive, said these at the last second ordinary session of the assembly at Saltpond. He announced that 335,817,180 cedis has been approved as provisional budget to meet the assembly's expenditure for the first quarter of 2004.

The DCE expressed concern about poor revenue generation of the assembly saying out of the annual estimate of 700,697,000 cedis for 2003 only 332,757,185.92 cedis representing 45.5 percent of the target had been collected as at the end of October 2003. Mr Quainoo-Arthur said the assembly has provided 20 million cedis for early take off of the District Health Insurance Scheme, He commended World Vision, Ghana, a non-governmental organisation for sponsoring a six-member team to Dodowa in the Dangme West District to under study the successful implementation of the health insurance scheme. Mr Quainoo-Arthur appealed to decentralised departments in the districts to present their programmes of action and budgets early enough for the assembly to budget for their activities. He said: "The assembly is embarrassed when programmes of activities which have not been budgeted for are presented in the course of the year."

Mr Quainoo-Arthur said the assembly undertook a number of projects and approved others for implementation in 2004 under HIPC Fund, Social Investment Fund, European Union, and the GETFund. The DCE announced that the assembly has entered into negotiations with landowners for creation of land banks to facilitate easy acquisition of land by investors.

Mr Frank Equate, the Presiding Member of the assembly, expressed gratitude to members for their support and co-operation. He urged them to sustain the spirit of cooperation towards the improvement of the living conditions of the people. The assembly approved the fee-fixing resolution for 2004.