Jirapa, (U/W), Nov. 26, GNA – The Northern Ghana Development Summit (NGDS) has appealed to government to invest in tapping the renewable energy potential in Northern Ghana to catapult the socio-economic transformation of the enclave.
It also recommended that government expedite action on the construction of the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam, and the Juale and Daboya Dams.
Government should also invest in the development of a framework for harvesting solar, wind and other renewable sources of energy and channeling this to meet the domestic and industrial needs of the zone.
This was contained in a communiqué issued and delivered by the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, at the end of the two-day NGDS held in Jirapa in the Jirapa Municipality.
“We believe this will be a great boost to the economy of Northern Ghana through employment generation and there is also a huge potential for export to neighbouring countries”, it said.
On generating domestic Resources for investment in critical infrastructure, the communique noted that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) lacked the fiscal resources to invest in critical infrastructure that would create an enabling environment for private sector participation in the development of Northern Ghana.
It therefore recommended that government put in place appropriate mechanisms to allow MMDAs to raise funds locally through such innovative ways as municipal bonds.
Coordination should also be improved between MMDAs and the relevant sector Ministries be able to raise the capital to invest in critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and dams.
The communique also recognised the great potential of agriculture and its ability to be a game changer for employment and sustainable development in Northern Ghana, and recommended that in addition to existing government flagship projects in agriculture, more investments should be made into modernizing agriculture to improve yields to attract youth interest.
The communique urged government to facilitate the adoption of improved seeds, farm mechanization technologies to reduce post-harvest losses, whilst also investing into climate adaptation mechanisms such as climate-smart agriculture.
It recommended that government should support the restoration of community wood lots as part of measures to mitigate the impact of climate change.
The communique also recognised that peace and security were necessary conditions for sustainable development, however, lingering and unresolved conflicts, arising from chieftaincy and land disputes, coupled with high youth unemployment and other drivers of conflict continued to affect the stability of Northern Ghana.
It cited recent happenings in neighbouring countries that shared porous borders with Northern Ghana continued to expose the vulnerability of the area to terrorists and violent extremist activities.
Therefore, the communique recommended the building of strong and resilient communities by educating and building capacity of community members to provide early warning and intelligence, improving security-community relations and trust to prevent and counter violent extremism.
It also said youth unemployment must be addressed by creating sustainable employment opportunities and support to enterprising young people to be meaningfully engaged to reduce their susceptibility to radicalization.
GNA