In its quest to expand its revenue base the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) has introduced Habitation permit for developers.
Under the new arrangement developers obtain building permits from the assembly which is valid for five years, however on completion of the project the assembly conducts an inspection the necessary specification requirements had been followed before it gives habitation permit for occupation.
The Chief Executive Officer of ASHMA, Mr. Albert Boakye Okyere, who disclosed this in an interview yesterday said 209 habitation permits were given as of June this year with clients paying about GH¢200.00 on the average.
He noted that the assembly had put in interventions to speed up the processing of building permits.
Ashaiman is part of the Tema Development Corporation acquisition area as such ASHMA processed building permits jointly with T.D.C. but the process was fraught with delays (it took four to six months to obtain building permit).
However, Mr. Okyere said changes introduced recently in line with the Special Planning Act and the Local Governance Act, ACT 936 section 106, enabled ASHMA to process building permits within a week to one month and clients are happy to apply.
“For instance last year from January to June the assembly mobilised GH¢38,000.00 from building permits but after the intervention it realised more than GH¢700,000.00 from June to December,” he said.
He added that as of June this year the assembly had received 110 applications for building permits and approved 108 of them.
Mr. Okyere said the two were rejected because they did not meet ASHMA’s planning scheme procedures.
The assembly he said had also introduced ‘on street parking fees’ for vehicle owners, which was bringing in some revenue.
Mr. Okyere said previously ASHMA depended only on the District Assembly Common Fund, donor support and internal generated fund such as market tolls, business operating license, property rate, fees and fines which were inadequate.
ASHMA in the past was faced with the problem of poor existing data and improper accounting for revenue collected.
The new administration however resolved this by updating its property data with the use of electronic systems of collection by some of the partners which makes it easy to monitor, alongside the beefing up of a Task Force and City Guards.
He noted that there had been issues with the payment of property rates and some property owners complained about the imposition of arbitrary rates since 2014.
Mr. Okyere said in line with its bye-laws the assembly undertook a fee fixing exercise this year and educated residents who have started paying, adding he expected at least 80 per cent collection by end of the year.
He said that the assembly in June realised GH¢1,643,415.58 out of its budgeted IGF of GH¢4,524,439.60.
He said Revenue Collectors have been trained to sharpen their skills in order to improve performance.
From Godfred Blay Gibbah, Ashaiman.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS