Providing A Vehicle For Cities Growth In Africa

Cities in Africa are characterized by the rapid spread of informal settlements, lack of affordable serviced plots and zoning policies to guide the process. Through the process of urbanization, the property market does not only grow to stimulate economic development but also improve the living quality of residents with sustainable infrastructural development. In principle, cities have greater potential to raise local revenues. Firstly, the larger urban economy provides a significant local tax base, although its predominantly informal nature prevents the authorities from capturing taxes. Secondly, high-value urban properties constitute a major tax base, although the lack of clear property titles prevents this from being realized.This paper reviews historical interventions in land administration in Ghana. The development of the first ever land policy in 1999 and implementation of land administration project – phase 1 and 2 (between 2004 and date) have still not adequately addressed the fundamentals. Sectorial gaps in achieving a sustainable land market development in the country remain unresolved.A qualitative approach is employed to investigate how the gains of the land administration project in Ghana have addressed the fundamentals of the country’s land policy. The findings reveal significant interventions in land administration in Ghana over the past 12 years; yet there are gaps in the nation’s effort to provide a sustainable platform for cities growth. This paper makes a considered contribution that land use and building regulations become more important as urbanization advances. Urban planning must guide cities growth and the associated infrastructure needed.The paper further establishes a strong connection between three thematic areas – sustainable land administration, participatory land use planning, and infrastructure investment – as a vehicle for cities growth, an explicit added value. It comparatively analyses sub-regional performance and concludes that by every measure of infrastructure coverage, African countries lag behind their peers in other parts of the developing world.