Going forward, the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) in the Western Region will prioritise and implement programmes that will boost resilience, increase mitigation and adaptation measures which will guarantee the provision of low emission and climate smart infrastructure.
STMA’s dedication to climate resilience, sustainable energy, and low-emission development follows off from a memorandum of understanding (MoU) it has signed with the Covenant of Mayors in Sub -Saharan Africa (CoM SSA).
Three actions will underpin the collaboration between STMA and CoM SSA and will be the development of a Sustainable Energy Access and Climate Action Plan (SEACAP), which integrates strategies for sustainable low-emission development into existing STMA development plans.
The rest will be “implementing Urban Smart Energy (USE) to install decentralized energy systems and improve energy efficiency in municipal sites like city halls, markets, schools, and healthcare centres. As well as, an active involvement in workshops, training programs, international events, and unlocking access to valuable resources and intercity collaborations through the CoM SSA network”, a statement from CoM SSA indicated.
Abdul Issah Mumin, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive commented: “STMA plans to implement programmes to boost resilience, increase mitigation and adaptation measures and ensure the provision of low-emission and climate-smart infrastructure.
“It is without a doubt that the CoM SSA programme has come at the right time and will significantly contribute to achieving a greater impact.”
Head of the Infrastructure and Sustainable Development at the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana Paulina Różycka said: “The signature of this Memorandum of Understanding is a big step for Sekondi – Takoradi. It demonstrates the willingness of the Metropolitan Assembly to work toward Greenhouse Gases Emissions reductions and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.”
She pledged the European Union will “support Sekondi-Takoradi in its efforts”.
The Covenant of Mayors, supported by Team Europe across Sub-Saharan Africa, has demonstrated evidence of their ability by championing and collaborating with more than 350 cities and therefore she, is confident that “together they will achieve great improvement toward a greener city”.
With this fortified partnership, the Assembly is set to benefit from many services and support via the CoM SSA network, notably the CoM SSA Technical Helpdesk, Secretariat, and its co-implementing partner, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Ghana.
Shea O’Neil, Ghana Project Manager GIZ CoM SSA mentioned that CoM SSA is pleased to see the strong initiative from STMA to take bold climate action, and “looks forward to this partnership where we will work to make Sekondi-Takoradi and its residents more resilient to the impacts of climate change”.
Both STMA and CoM SSA anticipate a fruitful collaboration that will significantly contribute to the global fight against climate change and the journey towards a more sustainable future.
CoM SSA)l is financed by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Ghana.
By Eric Yaw Adjei