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Peri- Urban Infrastructure Development through Community Participation: A Case Study of Yasore, Ghana
Session
Land Management in Africa
Full Paper Review
Yes
Authors
Williams Obeng, University of Cape Town, South Africa,williams.obeng@gmail.com
Jennifer Whittal, University of Cape Town, South Africa, jennifer.whittal@uct.ac.za
Abstract
The rate at which peri-urban development is growing makes it difficult for governments to keep pace with the provision of infrastructure in peri-urban areas, particularly in Ghana (Akrofi, 2006). The other reason for lack of infrastructure provision in some peri-urban areas is due to the poor or lack of spatial planning in those areas. Property owners in peri-urban areas have to live with this predicament or wait for services and infrastructure to be installed before they take occupation of their houses.
There are many incomplete and/or unoccupied houses in some peri-urban areas in Kumasi, a sprawling Ghanaian city. Owners of such houses are not in haste to complete them since there is little or no infrastructural development in those areas. It is common to see some mansions in peri-urban Kumasi without constructed access roads. Residents of some peri-urban areas in Kumasi have taken the initiative to support their communities in the provision of some infrastructure. In Yasore, the Yasore Development Committee[1] and the Yasore Resident Association[2] have agreed to contribute money towards the construction of the main road in the town.
This paper seeks to investigate the structures that have been established in Yasore to manage the fund for the construction of the access road. These are contrasted with the experience of a Special Rating Area in South Africa as a means of community funding for local benefit. [1] The Yasore Development Committee is made up of ten members (who are all property owners in Yasore). The Committee is chaired by a member of the royal family. [2] The Yasore Resident Association is made up of all the residents of Yasore. This includes property owners and people who rent properties in the area.