FLOODING AND PHYSICAL PLANNING IN URBAN AREAS IN WEST AFRICA: SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF ACCRA, GHANA

The need to explore the causes of the increasing incidences of flooding in West Africa in recent years motivated the investigation carried out in this research. It is natural to want to attribute the situation to climate change and the increased occurrences of high intensity rainfall predicted as a consequence. However, flooding and the devastation caused by it are not just determined by rainfall and runoff; human influences which significantly modify the nature of the ground surface and its hydrological response to rainfall do also play a major role. The research used Accra as a case study city and involved a visit to the city to interview local experts, officials of agencies responsible for flooding matters and physical planning. The visit also involved collection of data relevant to the problem and afforded the physical inspection of the infrastructural facilities in place for coping with the flooding problems. Analysis of the data revealed that for the city, there is no evidence that unusual rainfall has been occurring recently that could explain the increased occurrences of flooding being experienced. Rather, the cause of the problem is the lack of, drainage facilities to collect the storm water for safe disposal. These could in turn be attributed to the ineffective planning regulations which either ignore or even condone the illegal erection of buildings and other structures on floodplains, and the unhealthy habit of dumping refuse and other solid wastes in the usually open channel drainage systems. It is recommended that in order to have a long-lasting solution to the flooding problems, the city and others in similar situation should embrace sustainable urban drainage systems.Flooding, planning, urban cities, waste dumping.

The determinants of Office rents in Accra, Ghana

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Investigating Finance-Growth Nexus: Further Evidence from Nigeria

This study investigates the influence of financial sector development on economic growth in Nigeria during the period 1982 to 2015. As such, the study obtained annual secondary data from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletins and World Bank financial database. The empirical model for this study examines growth in savings, growth in exchange rate, growth in government expenditure, growth in stock market capitalization, growth in credit to private sector, growth in gross capital formation, growth in trade openness and growth in broad money on economic growth in Nigeria. The multiple regression output reveals that growth in government expenditure and growth in gross capital formation are statistically significant on economic growth in Nigeria at 1% and 10% respectively under the period under investigation while other regressors in the model prove to be statistically insignificant. VAR test shows that there is considerable short-run causality running from lags of regressors to economic growth in Nigeria except for lag 1 of growth in exchange rate and lag 2 of growth in credit to private sector. The granger causality test reveals the existence of bi-directional causality between financial sector development and economic growth in Nigeria during the period under investigation. Hence, this study supports the ‘feedback hypothesis’ view on finance-growth. Based on these empirical results, this study recommends effective channeling of funds to the private sector and autonomy of the Central Bank of Nigeria in the use of monetary policy tools

Assessing the Role of Housing Microfinance in the Low-income Housing Market in Ghana

Housing Microfinance (HMF) is becoming an increasingly attractive and innovative source of low-income housing finance for Low-income households (LIHs) in developing countries to meet their housing needs. Many countries in the developing world such as India, Bangladesh among others are developing housing finance policies that recognised the role and importance of such innovative mechanisms. However, in the case of Ghana, despite the over 2,234 Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) spread over the country, few are into lending for housing activities. This paper assessed the role of HMF in the low-income housing market. The paper relied on extant literature and realised that HMF could play a fundamental role in solving the low-income housing challenge faced by many LIHs in Ghana. The paper concludes that HMF could help LIHs to regularise land tenure, acquire building materials and tools, acquire building designs and skills development, housing infrastructure delivery, finance new and home improvements, improve low-income housing governance and encourage community partnerships and development. The paper made some valuable suggestions to overcome the barriers and challenges associated with HMF delivery in Ghana

Government Investment, Growth and Employment in South Africa

This paper focuses on the impact of government investment on growth and employment in South Africa. As a prelude to the analysis, the paper refers to theory and practical evidence which indicates the way investment can influence growth and employment. Also, a review of investment patterns in South Africa in the past two decades is followed by a discussion of the impact of government investment. In the conclusion, suggestions arc made, based on the content of the paper for improving government investment strategy, in order to bring about growth and employment. Journal of Social Development in Africa Vol 15 No 1 2000, pp. 79-9