The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor has announced that government will on Monday, 25th July, 2022, inaugurate a National Planning Committee to implement the new flagship programme; the Green Street Project, which he said is intended to plant trees in the median and avenues of the regional capitals of the country. He noted that the project which will be chaired by his Deputy, Benito Owusu-Bio will also see to the beautification and mordenisation of all major cities in Ghana including the capital cities – Accra, Takoradi, Kumasi, and Tamale, among others. Speaking at the Minister’s press briefing at the Ministry of Information on 20th July, 2022, Mr Jinapor explained that “the strategy and the goal is to plant trees in the avenues and the medians of the various streets of our country. He gave examples of countries that have employed similar strategies to beautify their cities saying “most of the developed countries have these instituted in their countries, London is an example, Paris is an example and even some African countries like South Africa.”
Duplication of resources
Reacting to the announcement by the Minister on his Facebook page, Deputy Director of A Rocha Ghana, Mr Daryl Bosu described the Green Street Project as duplication and waste of public resources. He wrote “We are already spending millions of taxpayers' money on what we call the Green Ghana Project every year. Good initiative, just need overhauling. The same Ministry thinks tree planting on Green Ghana Day does not include the medians of roads of avenues of our cities, so they come up with Greening Street Project”.
Document showing the Green Street Project is part of the Green Ghana Project
He noted that, that, “there is a separate Committee for the Green Ghana Project. We are going to set up another Committee for the Greening Street Project. This is a duplication and a waste of public resources. I am not amused at all”. “The Ministry recently did a massive shake-up at the Forestry Commission. I will come to that issue later, but I believe there needs to be a massive shake-up at the Ministry. Forests Reserves across the country are under siege from farming and mining activities, resulting in their depletion, and yet we watch unconcerned, while we get ourselves unnecessarily busy in the city duplicating tree planting projects”. He asked “What stopped the Ministry of Lands from collaborating with the Ministry of Roads and Highways to ensure that this exercise is done without the need to set up a new Committee or duplicate another tree planting project? “As we speak, ongoing road widening and construction projects are busy removing trees that could have been integrated into the design, if we had taken the time to do some road engineering. I guess we should all watch out for Greening Homes Project”, he concluded.