Declassifying the Western Corridor Development Authority development process. John Dramani Mahama Raymond Atuguba Ben Dotsei Malor Amos AnyimaduMay 6 (6 months ago)Pin to AmosShow detailsInboxMark as UnreadReply More ----- Original message ----- From: [email protected] To: Amos Anyimadu Subject: Fw: Ghana Western Growth Corridor - Report Back Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:58:32 +0000 FYI ___________________________________________Sector Leader Sustainable Development Department Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone The World Bank, Ghana Office DAMA 5337+4162, Mail Stop ACCWB Tel: +233 (0) 21 214162, Fax: +1 (202) 614-1235 E-mail:[email protected] ----- Forwarded by ..... Kr...... /Person/World Bank on 06/27/2008 01:58 PM ----- P.... K..... 06/17/2008 09:00 PM To 5337+4162 / AFCTGHALL, SD AFCW1 TTL, Marjory-Anne 233-21-214-162 AFTEN cc Subject Ghana Western Growth Corridor - Report Back Dear all, The purpose of this message is to share with the Ghana Country Team the findings of a recent visit to the Central and Western Regions of Ghana, and to explain what we intend to do in the next several months for the Western Growth Corridor. The Minister of Finance recently requested the Bank to take another look at how the Bank could assist the Government en harnessing the opportunities for economic growth in the Central and Western Regions. In order to explore this question further, we undertook a visit to the Central and Western Region last week (June 8-12, 2008). The visit team comprised Ishac Diwan (Country Director), Marjorie-Anne Bromhead (Sector Manager, AFTEN), Juan Costain (Lead Financial Sector Specialist, AFTFP), Kofi-Boateng Agyen (Senior Operations Officer, AFTFP), Marina Dimova (Consultant, AFTFP), and Peter Kristensen (Sector leader, AFTSD). The team also included Jean-Pierre Diehl (Transport Consultant, European Commission), and Dr Amos Anyimadu (Political Scientist), the latter facilitated our interaction with the Government and traditional leaders. The objective of the visit was to initiate a dialogue with leaders at regional and local levels to understand the current vision for development in the Western and Central regions. We met with interest groups from private sector, infrastructure, human development, and natural resources sectors, and opened a space for dialogue between the World Bank, civil society and the traditional authorities regarding their economic, social and environmental concerns, as well as their vision for the future development of what could be known in conceptual terms as ?Western Growth Corridor? comprising the Central and Western regions. The program for the mission included the following ? Meeting with the Central Region?s Regional Minister in Cape Coast, and a half-day meeting with the Western Region?s Regional Minister and his staff in Takoradi. ? Field visits to a Sawmill, John Bitar & Co Ltd (Takoradi), Goldfields? mining operation (Tarkwa), Small-scale mining concession site (near Tarkwa), Busua Beach resort (Busua), Forestry experimental site (Central Region), Fisheries Port (Takoradi), Commercial Port (Takoradi), Ghana Rubber Estates Ltd. Rubber Plantation, Benso Oil Palm Plantation, and a Takoradi City tour. ? A half-day development dialogue meeting chaired by the Paramount Chief of Essikado, Nana Nketsia V. This meeting included the Western Region?s Regional Minister, business leaders, regional government representatives, traditional authorities, artists, and the press. The main findings of the visit is that the Central Region and in particular the Western Region is developing far below its growth potential and its leaders and people share a certain frustration from that fact. In response, the Bank can very easily engage in a more pro-actively manner with the development and implementations of current projects on the ground. During meetings a wide range of issues were brought up, some of which included the following: Institutional issues: ? While the Bank?s official client is the Government, there are opportunities to work with traditional authorities to further inform region-specific priorities. The Bank should continue to explore how to make the best use of the traditional authorities to address the development challenge in the region. Private Sector opportunities: ? Addressing barriers to doing business, in particular with regards to exports. For example, customs issues lead to doors being shipped to Nigeria by airfreight rather than by ship or lorry ? Developing the Value Chain for existing products or commodities. Opportunities to pursue includes assistance to setting up carbon credits mechanism for the forestry sector, strengthening research in forest products, and developing the potential of ecotourism ? Addressing informality through providing incentives to formalizing illegal mining and forestry sectors. An approach which capitalizes on former forestry and mining employees skills and also creates alternative sources of employment could be developed ? Addressing external constraints to development in the region - this would be topics such as the weak performance of the financial sector (rural banks) in terms of supporting, for example, agribusiness ? Better use of Public-Private Partnerships for large scale project such as making use of the natural gas, port expansion and ancillary port services ? Developing some form of Growth Pole and integrated regional development initiatives Tourism opportunities ? There is a strong tourism potential in the Western Region ? eco and community tourism, heritage sites, natural parks and beaches ? Tourism investment might be more successful if driven by the private sector ? Opportunity for the World Bank is to get involved in vocational training schemes and sanitation and infrastructure planning required for tourism development. Agriculture and tree-crop opportunities ? Great economic potential for the expansion of out-grower schemes developed for rubber by Ghana Rubber Estates Ltd.and for oil palm by Unilevers Benso Oil Plam Plantation ? Potential for expansion of the value added in the production and processing of rubber, cocoa and oil palm ? Economic potential for sustainable forestry estates harvesting timber and non-timber products and essential oils, as well as selling carbon offset credits ? Need for the development of food processing facilities in order to smooth the seasonal nature of food crop production in the regions, and subsequently, food shortages in the off-harvesting season Environmental & Natural Resources Management opportunities ? Fisheries are becoming a major potential conflict as oil exploration continues due to restriction of fisheries to exploration sites. These issues need to be investigates further, as does the social implications of possible decline in revenues from fisheries buy local communities ? There is a need investigate issues related to pollution for urban environmental health (such as the lagoon in Cape Coast), and on keeping the beaches clean for tourism. Urban Planning ? Greater Sekondi-Takoradi is in great need for urban revival and for zoning planning given the prospects for a variety of urban infrastructure needs following the near-future oil development. ? Water and sanitation plans for both Sekondi-Takoradi and small towns in the regions needs another look, and we should look at innovative ways of dealing with sanitation, in particular. Energy ? The region should anticipate future energy needs, and should undertake feasibility studies for the mini-hydro dams on the major rivers in the region ? Opportunities for using in the future the natural gas from the oil field should be investigated. Transportation ? Importance of strengthening the road network in the region. Particularly, the roads leading to the major mining sites suffer from overload due to the break-down of the rail. ? Road safety is compromised with the heavy traffic (four truck accidents were observed, one of which cause death of 40 people) ? Potential for the revival of the railway network for the transportation of bauxite, manganese, timber and cocoa to the Takoradi port ? Takoradi port expansion plans for the servicing of oil service ships. Education ? Across almost all sectors, there is a lack of the appropriate skills required to support growth, and in particular business skills, and entrepreneurial skills/talents. ? Vocational/technical/entrepreneurship training might be the solution to increase the ability of businesses to be competitive ? Another opportunity is the strengthening the polytechnic university, including possibly delivery of tailor made training modules to meet demands from future oil industry Health care and sanitation ? The regional council in expressed a desire to have the hospital upgraded and better staffed ? Child malaria and diarrhea remains a challenge in the region, and should be addressed by sanitation projects in urban areas ? Cost-efficient projects, such as hand-washing campaigns should be carried out
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 09:27:27 +0000