The Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority and the Department of Urban Roads has organised a stakeholder engagement workshop to deliberate on the situational analysis report and proposed development scenarios for the structure plan of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Project.
The project is been executed on behalf of the Ministry of Roads and Highways by the Department of Urban Roads with the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) as the principal technical organization overseeing its implementation.

The comprehensive Structure Plan for GAMA is “a dimensionally accurate spatial plan used to guide the development or redevelopment of an urban area, town or city and its peripheries or contiguous locations connected to its future development”.
It would cover 32 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Greater Accra, Central and Eastern Regions.
The over concentration of population in GAMA has brought in its wake several urban development challenges such as disorderly land use and uncontrolled urban sprawl leading to increased environmental degradation.
There has also been massive stress on the limited infrastructures and services, with the most visible being slums, rapid sprawl, traffic congestion, poor access to water and sanitation, with the physical expansion of GAMA reflecting weak urban governance and institutional coordination.
Currently, urban development has spread well beyond the boundary of the 1991 Strategic Plan coupled with uncoordinated spatial development.

In 2017, the Greater Accra Spatial Development Framework (GARSDF) was developed and provided a clear development vision for the region and guidance on land use decisions and investments.
It also provided a clear path and strategic proposals for producing a blueprint for the sustainable development of GAMA within the region.
The unbalanced development afflicting GAMA points to the urgent need for a spatial development plan that encourages corrective actions in the existing built-up areas and guide good practice for future land use decisions and investments in the metropolitan area.

It is expected that the Structure Plan, when finalized and approved by the relevant authority, would address the numerous challenges facing the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area in the areas of infrastructure, environment, urban development, economy, climate change, and land use among others.