MiDA signs agreement with EPA for project assessment (Back Page)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
THE Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) yesterday signed an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enable the EPA to undertake environmental assessment and issue permits for the commencement of projects under the programme.
The MiDA is the agency responsible for the disbursement of the US$547 million Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) funding from the government of the United States of America (USA) to Ghana. Under the programme, farmers as well as other farming-based organisations (FBO) related to the programme have to be issued with environmental complaint permit to enable them to access the fund.
The projects include permits and processing fees for community service projects such as highways, trunk and feeder roads within the beneficiary communities and other non-transportation infrastructure; field trips for screening and also categorisation and monitoring of activities under the agricultural credit programme.
At a signing ceremony in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MiDA, Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, said the agreement was one of the implementing entities of the US$547 million MCA funding from the government of the US to Ghana to improve upon agriculture.
Present at the ceremony were the Deputy Resident Country Director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Ghana, Ms Katerina S. Ntep, and also some officials from MiDA and EPA.
Under the MCA, the country had been divided into three zones namely the Northern, the Afram Basin and the Southern zones, and in all 23 districts have been selected to benefit.
Out of the number, the Northern Zone has five districts, the Afram Basin Zone, six districts and the Southern Zone, 12 districts.
With the assistance from the programme, Mr Eson-Benjamin pointed out that agricultural productivity and production of both food and cash crops must be improved and values enhanced to enable the country to move into competition with others within the industry.
He announced that $1.34 million had been given to the first batch of farmers who qualified under the terms and expressed the hope that EPA would expedite action on the programme to enable more farmers to access the funds on time.
The Executive Secretary of EPA, Mr Jonathan Allotey, said issues of the environment was important, since it was considered the third pillar of development, the others being social and economic.
Mr Allotey gave the assurance that the agency would play its role effectively knowing well that the programme was time bound.