Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, Minister of State, Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), has charged local assemblies to be at the forefront of the Green Ghana Day and make it a daily routine.
He said the most critical concern of the populace over the last three years of the Green Ghana Day’s existence had been how sustainable the project had fared in terms of the survival rate.
‘The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Forestry Commission have confirmed that over 70 percent of the trees are still thriving. The MMDAs are tasked to ensure that what we plant is sustained year after year and not only for a day,’ Mr Amoah said.
He made the call during the 2023 Green Ghana Day when he led the Local Government and National Security Ministries and the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly to plant trees at the Nationalism Park, about 200 metres away from the Accra Sports Stadium.
Speaking on the significance of the Green Ghana Project, the Minister of State said, ‘as a people we knew the importance of protecting our lands, water bodies and environment, adding that it was imperative we gave our fullest support.’
He said: ‘When we plant the trees and let them die then it means we are also dying. For us at the Local Government Ministry, Parks and Gardens, it is our everyday job.’
‘It is not just a yearly affair that we commemorate and wait for a long time before people will hear of us,’ Mr Amoah added.
He said the Assemblies had a mandate to develop all districts and they could not take development to any level if their environment was degraded, water systems were polluted and forest was dying.
Nii Adjei Tawiah, Chief Executive, Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, who also planted a tree at the Nationalism Park, said the Assembly had been collaborating with officers from Parks and Gardens to green the Municipality.
He said Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly and National Security had collaborated with a private investor to invest $500, 000 to redevelop the Nationalism Park into an iconic facility that would drive tourism traffic and generate revenue.
‘All arrangements have been done. Part of the revenue generated for the Park if completed would pay for the cost of the project whilst some percentages would go to GTA and the Korle Klottey Assembly but the investor would be taken off after recouping his capital injection,’ the Chief Executive said.
The investor company is said to have come from South Korea and is expected to raise the facility to the standards of the likes of New York Central Park or the High Park of the UK in London.
The target for this year’s Green Ghana project is to plant about 10 million trees nationwide. In 2022, about 7 million trees were said to have been planted.
Source: Ghana News Agency