GhIE To Support SADA Realise Dream Of Developing Northern Ghana

The Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) has began a partnership with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to roll out a “comprehensive, integrated, sustainable and rapid infrastructure development plan” for the SADA region using engineering expertise.

The plan document, dubbed “Bridging The Gap”, addresses climate change issues and engineering response, education, health, transportation, energy, water, agriculture, tourism, waste management and employment opportunities through the deployment of engineering.

This came about following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions after GhIE submitted a proposal to SADA in March 2014 expressing interest to support SADA realize its objectives of developing northern Ghana, Vice President of GhIE Ing. B.C. Attipoe told journalists in Tamale.

“Recognising the potential SADA holds for bringing development to the regions covered and Ghana as a whole, the GhIE and SADA have agreed to cooperate to ensure that the professional advice and technical assistance of GhIE and its members are made available to SADA to ensure well thought-out and engineered projects are delivered towards realizing the objectives SADA”, he emphasized.

Per the agreement, Ing. Attipoe said, GhIE would provide advice and technical assistance through its technical committees where required and made recommendations to SADA for projects in line with SADA objectives.

According to him, GhIE would work with SADA to indentify a landmark engineering project to mitigate the effects of perennial flooding in parts of the SADA zone which comprised of Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions as well as parts of the Northern Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions.

GhIE, he said, would also ensure that all engineers working on SADA projects were registered as required by law and made available to SADA its full list of members of good standing when SADA required it.

In view of the symbiotic relationship that has been established between SADA and GhIE, the latter is to hold its 2015 Engineering Week Celebration and Annual General Meeting in Tamale the Northern Regional capital.

Under the theme: “Engineering –Key Driver to Sustainable Infrastructure in the Savannah Region of Ghana”, the meeting is expected to bring together several participants from March 25^th – 28^th to hold discussions centered on multidisciplinary issues such as human development, private-public partnership, the institutional, regulatory and monitoring frameworks for development as well as for budgeting and sustainability.

By the end of the forum, organizers of the meeting expect a strong beneficial partnership between stakeholders for sustainable human development of Northern Savannah and Ghana as a whole would have been established.

SADA, a government policy initiative established by an Act of Parliament (Act 805, 2010) is aimed at addressing the development gap that exists between Northern and Southern Ghana. SADA’s mandate is to accelerate the socio-economic development of the northern savannah zone through strategic investment in resource development.

It envisions a “Forested North” by 2020, where agricultural production is modernized and oriented towards a larger market. It seeks to benefit citizens of the northern savannah zone.