{UAH} East and Central African Regional Urban Policy - post widely
|
10:52 PM |
No comments |
EAC regional urban policy
KAMPALA, Uganda - Participants in the two day annual Kampala conference on Urban and infrastructure development for the East African community have resolved to draft a regional urban policy document whose vision is to achieve productive, organised and resilient urban centres in the region.
Subsequently, the draft urban policy document will be submitted to the EAC headquarters secretariat and the respective sector ministries for perusal, input and developing strategies for implementation.
'Since the countries share the same urban challenges, there was no point for each country to draw its own policy but as we come to together, we ought to borrow a leaf from the Nordic countries who share same policies on a given challenge,' said Daniel Bwanika the coordinator of the conference.
Bwanika said East Africa is in the process of reorganising into a fully-fledged EAC , therefore urban infrastructure planning development should be placed at the fore front and form a common policy to reduce on the plight of cities congested with informal settlements (slums), limited access to safe water and sanitation, security of land tenure, health, housing, electricity and security.
Representing the Permanent secretary at the opening of the conference Katsigaire Savino the Director physical planning & urban development told participants that knowledge acquired from this conference would enable the drivers of the national urban policy dissemination and implementation to have a hands on experience in regard to teasing out workable means and ways of popularizing the principles of sustainable and orderly development their respective countries.
He said the urban sector was important for the structural transformation of any country's economy and broadening the participants understanding on the principles underpinning effective and efficient service delivery systems and revenue enhancement was paramount.
'as you are aware , urban areas are centres for major economic activities (industry, services and commerce) , it is therefore important that it is managed efficiently and effectively to stimulate economic growth. Failure to address the needs and requirements of such locations will lead to the creation of critical negative externalities for the country's economy as a whole. 'he added.
Katsigaire warned that East and Central Africa needed self-contained cities and a seat of selected potential towns for growth around these municipalities. Some of the municipalities eventually evolve into autonomous cities in the region.
'We therefore need to know how to build resilient and sustainable cities. This will be the only way to solve the problems that we have in this region specifically housing, power distribution, employment, agro industrial growth, environment conservation, hygiene and change the society into a dynamic one.'he said,
The meeting recommended that there was a need to link the rural to the urban in production sectors specifically agriculture in order to increase economic activities in the rural setting as an avenue to curb urban migration.
Urbanisation creates development nodes specifically for the youth to create hybrid culture as a source social transformation in areas of entertainment and recreation centres.
Integration of knowledge from a cross section of technical professionals was another recommendation for urban planning; bringing together stakeholders in the urban development like surveyors, cartographers, physical planners, political leaders and residents , architects and environmentalists.
The conference brought together participants from Pakistan, Kenya, Sweden, Holland, Canada and Uganda. The 2bnd annual meeting will reconvene in Kampala on 5th and 6th October 2016.
By Dan Nsalasaata, Monday, October 19th,
Companies with at least four capabilities can attend the 2nd Urban & Infrastructure Development Conference 5th -6th October 2016:--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment