Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has proposed a nationwide initiative that would allow banks and other corporate institutions to adopt stretches of major streets, finance their beautification and maintenance, and receive branding rights in return.
Addressing heads of banks at a meeting at The Bank Square in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Ayariga said the proposal seeks to scale up existing initiatives by some financial institutions that voluntarily beautify public spaces, particularly during festive periods.
He wants the practice transformed into a structured and sustained programme under which corporate institutions could take responsibility for designated stretches of roads in areas where they operate.
“Can we just make it a daily routine that we assign streets to banks? And not just banks. The idea is to assign them to corporate Ghana, all companies that can afford,” he said.
Participation, he stressed, would not be compulsory.
Under the proposed arrangement, the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority and the Urban Roads Directorate would provide the appropriate designs for participating institutions.
Companies adopting streets would finance landscaping and maintenance, including the planting and upkeep of trees, grass, flowers and other features intended to improve the appearance of the urban environment.
Mr Ayariga said the programme could help Ghana develop cleaner and more attractive cities comparable to destinations whose urban environments attract visitors and enhance quality of life.
Corporate branding rights
In return for maintaining designated streets, participating companies would be permitted to associate their brands with the stretches they maintain.
The Minister went further to suggest that corporate names could potentially be incorporated into existing street names.
Using the Obasanjo Highway as an example, Mr Ayariga said if a company such as Access Bank agreed to maintain the road, he would support incorporating the company’s name into the highway’s existing name.
“If Obasanjo Highway and Obasanjo and family is not helping me to maintain the street… and Access Bank is willing to maintain the street, I will change Obasanjo’s name small and then it will be Access Bank Obasanjo Highway,” he said.
He later suggested “Obasanjo Access Bank Highway” as another possible formulation.
Mr Ayariga said participating companies could incorporate the cost of maintaining their adopted streets into their annual budgets and extend the programme to different parts of the country according to their operational presence.
He illustrated that a company could, for example, maintain 10 kilometres in Greater Accra, two kilometres in Ashanti and one kilometre in each regional capital where it operates.
Jobs and tourism benefits
Beyond beautification, the Minister argued that the programme could create employment opportunities for young people and provide additional work for the Parks and Gardens Department and private subcontractors.
He said widespread participation by corporate Ghana could significantly improve the appearance of cities and communities while making the country more attractive to visitors.
According to him, creating attractive urban environments could improve residents’ quality of life while generating wider economic benefits through increased interest in Ghana as a destination.
Mr Ayariga indicated that discussions would continue with the Ghana Association of Banks to determine whether the financial institutions support the proposal and, if so, develop a roadmap for its implementation.
The proposal was presented ahead of the main discussions at the Heads of Banks Meeting, with Mr Ayariga describing it as an opportunity to build on corporate beautification initiatives that some banks are already undertaking.
