What President Mahama Said At The World Urban Forum

0
President John Mahama
President John Mahama

Remarks by President John Dramani Mahama at the opening of the 7th?Session of the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia- April 07, 2014

President John Mahama
President John Mahama

Your Excellency, Senor Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia and?our kind host for this august occasion,

Excellencies, Representatives of Heads of State and Government,

Dr Jan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat and Under-Secretary?General of the United Nations,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me express my sincerest thanks to President Juan Manuel Santos, Governor Sergio Fahardo and Mayor Anibal Gaviriia Correa, for the exceptional hospitality and warm welcome we have received since our arrival in this beautiful city of Medellin. Muchas Gracias.

It is an honour for me to be part of this important gathering of the Seventh World Urban Forum, and I wish to thank the Government of Colombia, UN-Habitat and other Stakeholders for this opportunity to share with you some thoughts on this topical subject of urbanization in the context of equity and the pursuit of an equitable global society.

There is a large degree of inevitability when one considers the phenomenon of urbanisation. While all continents are confronted with the irreversible force of urbanisation, Africa is the continent that has the fastest rates of an urbanizing population and is in need of speedy interventions to promote sustained urban development.

Recent events across the world characterised by social upheavals and mass protests by ordinary citizens in previously quiet cities and urban areas, clearly underscore the imperative for all of us to share the common pursuit of equity within our societies.

I therefore wish to commend the Organisers of this World Urban Forum for their thoughtfulness in choosing a theme of immediate interest and direct future implications for us.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Our reality, across the fifty-four nations of the African continent, has largely been one in which our economies have been structured to be over-dependent on the extraction and export of natural resources. This has naturally failed to generate adequate economic growth and employment for our people. Agriculture and rural development, which were the basis of national
growth policies in the immediate post-independence period, failed to
take advantage of new and viable methods and technologies for improved food security or equitable development.

Meanwhile urbanisation progressed without any effective framework to
strategically guide the development and management of our cities. African urban evolution has been without the impetus of industrialisation, which fired cities of Europe, the Americas and Asia into technological advancement and rapid economic growth.

DEFINING THE NEED FOR AN AFRICA URBAN AGENDA
Today, we are certain that urbanisation is a fact of our development that cannot be wished away. Indeed, statistical evidence can confirm that the 21st century will be the African Urban Age.? It is projected that by 2050, 60% of Africa?s population would be living in cities. In fact, not only is Africa urbanising very fast but it is also growing as the youngest continent in the world, with at least 20 per cent of the population aged between 15 and 24 years.?

Critically for African nations this demographic shift is occurring without the complementarity of industrialisation as was experienced elsewhere.? We, in Africa, must therefore address urbanisation that is occurring in the context of very high levels of rural-to-urban migration, limited local productive capacity and growing unemployment, dominated by a youth bulge.? Added to this mix, are challenges of inadequate urban services, climate change and significant gaps in innovative planning, among others.

Indeed the time to look more carefully at the emerging African Urban Age could not have been more critical than now, as we observe multitudes of our citizens putting their lives at great peril to cross deserts and oceans, in order to look for the ever shrinking promise of a better life in Western Europe.

At the cusp of the African Urban Age, we, leaders and ordinary citizens together, have to urgently craft interventions that make our cities viable in the face of the challenges we face. These interventions must create equal opportunity for all our people to take advantage of the African dream.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
If the Arab Spring has taught us anything, it is that, it is no longer acceptable to be ambivalent about the needs of the poor and marginalized in our societies ? especially in our expanding and unequal cities. Neither can we permit laissez-faire development and management of our cities as though there will be no backlash.

RISING URBAN POPULATION GROWTH
In the next two decades, African urbanisation will continue to grow rapidly, and even cities with limited resources shall experience explosions of urban growth.? Cities and towns in the Sahelian regions will grow just as fast as our coastal cities.? The implementation of innovative concepts of urban development corridors and mega-urban regions is no longer a question of ?if?, but when.

From Cairo to Ismailia and the Suez in Egypt, from Kemitra to Casablanca in Morocco, in the Gauteng corridor in South Africa, administrative delineations are being eroded rapidly. Even more immediate is the emergence of transnational mega urban regions (TMURs), with an example in the towns and cities along the Ibadan-Lagos-Cotonou-Lome-Accra-Abidjan corridor, linking four West African countries.

Although the phenomenon of mega-urban-regions and corridors reflect the extent of the challenge we face, it also indicates the potential for investment and the opportunity for economic growth.

Domestic and foreign investors have the opportunity to forge partnerships with the central and local governments of Africa to invest in infrastructure, service and industry.

LIMITED INFRASTRUCTURE, URBAN INEQUALITY & PROLIFERATION OF SLUMS
In the face of this inevitable rapid urban growth, the continent is confronted with significant constraints in the quantity, quality and standards of its infrastructure and allied services. Africa?s inadequate infrastructure is estimated to shave off an average of 1% of the growth rate of African economies every year. For example, in the transportation of goods, it takes twice as much time going by road in Africa as compared to Asia.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE AFRICAN URBAN AGENDA
Mr Chairman, permit me to make some suggestions on the content of the Africa Urban Agenda that must drive the African Urban Age.

There have been some initiatives in expanding the financing of infrastructure in Africa, such as the formation of the Business Working Group (BWG) by the African Development Bank and the World Economic Forum, for the purpose of accelerating Africa?s infrastructure delivery through private-sector involvement.? This important initiative places an emphasis on regional integration projects.

However, we need to do more.? African-based multi-lateral and multinational financial organisations, such as the African Development Bank, the Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development, the Development Bank of South Africa, Ecobank and many others, must take a greater lead in financing national housing and urban development programmes.

Financing for this sector has remained marginal in the operations of these financial institutions.? I encourage them to do more because the benefits will be huge, not just for the people but also in terms of returns on investments for the banks.

We envisage that strategic partners, including UN-Habitat together with private investors, will also work with the governments and cities authorities of Africa to ensure equitable outcomes as urbanization grows.

Besides investment in infrastructure, it is imperative and urgent, if we must achieve equitable urbanisation in the African Urban Age, that we do the following:

1.We build (human) capacity to improve urban planning and city management.

2.We institutionalize exchanges of experience and best practices across the continent. Our city administrators must be brought together periodically to learn from each other and other experts.

3.We deepen the networks amongst our tertiary training institutions that are engaged in teaching urban planning and urban management.

4.We promote city-to-city cooperation, in order to generate the dual goals of economic cooperation and partnerships. These must occur on North-South and South-South dialogue platforms, recognising that we all have something to learn and share with others.

5.We improve the local economic development institutional framework to enable African cities to become more competitive in the global arena.In this regard, particular attention needs to be paid to the vexatious issue of youth unemployment and underemployment.? We must strive to convert the potential energies of the teeming youth in our cities into significant productive capacity.

6.We must include and mainstream sustainable urban development as a key goal in the post 2015 Development Agenda.

CONCLUSION
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates and Guests, I believe that in the coming days, here in this innovative city of Medellin, Colombia, there is more than enough opportunity for us to examine and explore these issues about Urban Equity in Development.? I am confident that new and innovative solutions will be developed at this forum for implementation in cities and urban areas across the world.

I look forward to the outcomes of your discussions.

I wish to restate my commitment to be a key champion of sustainable urban development in Africa, working closely with my fellow African leaders.

Thank you.

Send your news stories to [email protected] Follow News Ghana on Google News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here