Obuasi is not insulated from the effects of hazardous events. The recent floods in the municipality revealed the gold-mining town’s vulnerability.
The Obuasi Municipal Assembly led by the Municipal Chief Executive, Elijah Adansi-Bonah, has launched a bold but aggressive policy targeted at converting all gray areas in the municipality to green and to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The programme, which coincided with the Municipality’s celebration of Green Ghana Day, was dubbed ‘the Obuasi Green City Agenda’.
The Green Ghana Day was introduced in 2021 by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of an aggressive national afforestation/reforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover of Ghana and to contribute to the global effort to mitigate climate change.
The maiden edition was held on June 11, 2021, when an estimated 7million tree seedlings were planted across the nation.
MCE Elijah Adansi-Bonah said the Obuasi Green City Agenda involves bringing on board a cross-section of people with the relevant expertise to ensure a well-developed urban space without compromising on the protection of the vegetation.
He said “the programme, which focuses on Resilience and Climate Adaptability, has a broad goal titled – To convert all gray areas in the Muncipality into green”.
In an interaction with the media, Mr Adansi-Bonah said the Assembly has already earmarked some roads within the Municipal as part of the programme.
He said the road linking the Old DVLA office and the Obuasi Government Hospital as well as the SDA Church road at Estate to the Obuasi Post office have been selected for the initial phase of the programme.
“We will do some landscaping, construct pavements and grow trees on these selected roads,” the MCE added .
The Obuasi Green City Agenda will be funded solely from the Capacity Support Grant Component of the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Programme (GSCSP) which the Obuasi Municipal is a beneficiary among 35 other municipalities.
A 17-member committee has been instituted to identify and establish an institutional framework for the implementation of resilience and climate adaptation activities in the municipality, to scope and report on all potential areas for intervention, to increase the knowledge and practice amongst the inhabitants on resilience and climate adaptation and to improve and embark on tree planting exercise in the Municipality.
The Obuasi Station Supervisor of the Forestry Department, Henry Yeboah, said the Department is well positioned to assist the municipality to implement the Obuasi Green City Agenda.
He said the Obuasi Municipality has been allocated 7,500 seedlings to be planted this year. The seedlings included Mahogany, Mango, Orange and others.
He called on residents to come for the seedlings, grow and nurture them to ensure that the comprehensive afforestation agenda of the government is achieved.