Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA)
PROFILE OF THE METROPOLIS
The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) as one of the local authorities in Ghana is established under L.I 1928 in 2008. There are a total of 78 Assembly members made up of 49 elected, 23 government appointees, 5 Members of Parliament as ex-officio members with the Metropolitan Chief Executive as a member. The administrative set-up comprises 16 decentralized departments out of which eleven (11) under the first schedule are in operation. The Assembly has 4 sub Metropolitan councils which are;
• Sekondi Sub Metro Council
• Takoradi Sub Metro Council
• Effia – Kwesimintsim Sub Metro Council
• Essikado – Ketan Sub Metro Council
Location and Size
Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly is one of the twenty-two (22) districts in the Western Region. The Metropolis is bounded to the north by Mpohor-Wassa East District, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea, west by Ahanta West District and to the east by the Shama District. It has a total land area of 192km², with Sekondi as the administrative headquarters. The metropolis is located on the west coast with the Trans West African Highway passing through. It is about 280km west of Accra and 130km east of La Cote D’voire. It is thus strategically located considering its closeness to the sea, the airports and also accessibility to major cities by rail and road.
Vision
STMA is seen to become a clean and aesthetically beautiful environment in which its citizens are civic minded, healthy, economically independent, culturally and socially progressive to enjoy the highest standard of living.
Mission Statement
Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly exists to improve the living conditions in the metropolis through the provision of sustainable Socio- Economic development and Good Governance that is responsive to the needs of the people
Metropolitan Economy
The local economy of the Metropolis could be classified into three major sectors; namely manufacturing, agriculture and service. The metropolis boasts of a number of manufacturing industries such as cement, cocoa, paper manufacturing, timber processing and other small scale industries. There are also micro enterprises such as confectionery, sachet/bottle water production, batik, tie and dye, leather works and agro-processing. The services sector is the largest employer of the labour force in the Metropolis and comprises Shipping/Forwarding, Hotel/Hostel/Restaurant, Bulk Oil Storage, Distribution, and Retail Transport Services, Harbour and Port Services, Commerce and ancillary oil drilling and exploration services.
Crop farming still remains at subsistence level with fishing as a predominant component of the agriculture sector. The major crops cultivated include maize, cassava, plantain, citrus, coconut and oil palm. Fishing is the other predominant component of the agric sector due to the available long stretch of coastline. Fish production in the Metropolis is noted to be decreasing for reasons attributed to artisanal fishing, pair trawling by big trawlers and bad fishing practices. The newly constructed no cold store located at New Takoradi is not in operation and not contributing to mitigating of post-harvest losses the landing beaches thus leading to post harvest losses.
The metropolis has no unique tourism attraction sites but has a potential to develop them in the near future. However the fort Orange at Sekondi that can serve as a heritage site is being used as lighthouse by the Ports Authority. There is a monkey sanctuary near the central business district and the coast line that can be developed into pristine beach sites along with the development of beach sports for holiday travellers.
Demographic Characteristics
From the 2010 census the population stood at 559,548 and is projected to be 656,636 in 2015 and 700,034 in 2017. The projection was based on the average annual growth rate of 3.2 %. The age-sex composition of the population which is of much importance for planning is that, 44.8% of the population is below the age of 14, with 51.9% between 15 and 64, while those above 65 are only 3.3%. The economically active population is about 60 percent of the population. However this figure may be misleading since there are people within the active age group who are unemployed. Out of the lot, 48.9% are males whiles 51.1% are females. The population density is 2,998 persons/km2 .
Infrastructure and Social Services
The metropolis is well developed, with the best of socio-economic infrastructure and facilities in terms of electricity, water, telecommunication, education, health with industrial set ups and other several economic activities. Most of the socio-economic infrastructures are densely concentrated in the core urban centers of the metropolis such as Takoradi and Sekondi with sparsely distributed facilities at the peri-urban areas. The road network is fairly good with surface dressing and mostly engineered. The total road network is 688.43 km made up of the following surface areas;
Asphalt – 68.45 km
• Surface Dressing – 312.38 km
• Gravel – 266.86 km
• Earth – 40.27 km
• Concrete – 0.47 km
50% of the road network is in good condition. The rest are fair and poor. The Ghana Air force manages internal flights at the Takoradi airstrip. Rail transport lines from Takoradi to Kumasi and Accra exists and slated for rehabilitation. Educational and health facilities in the Metropolis are fairly and spatially located. Public and private educational facilities in the Metropolis include the following;
• Tertiary – 4
• Senior High School – 12
• Basic Schools – 790
• Vocational /Technical – 5
• Special school – 2
Sanitation and Waste management is the sole responsibility of the Metropolitan Assembly. Presently four (4) Waste Management service are engaged to perform this major responsibility through the adoption of the polluter-pay principle. Solid waste generated amounted to 280 tonnes/day totaling 102,200 tonnes/year. The final disposal system is a controlled tipping at the engineered landfill site for solid waste and an oxidation system for liquid waste disposal. The waste collection system being operated in the Metropolis is a mix of door to door refuse collection system and communal container lifting systems.