5.5 Lessons learned from the Ghana Urban Transport Project

BOX 5.5

Lessons learned from the Ghana Urban Transport Project

The Ghana Urban Transport Project (GUTP) implemented in Accra by the government of Ghana was intended to encourage broad policy reforms and catalyze transformation of urban transport in Accra through a combination of management improvements, regulation of the public transport industry, and implementation of a bus rapid transit system. The project was completed in 2015 with unsatisfactory results. The following lessons learned from that project are critical for further engagement in the urban mobility sector in Ghana:

• setting up a strong institutional basis for coordinated planning and regulation is critical to the success of urban transport projects.

The World Bank report Cities on the Move (2002) identifies institutional weaknesses as the source of many observed failures in urban transport in developing countries (World Bank 2002). strengthening urban transport institutions often requires legislative, institutional, and management changes at the national, state, and municipal levels to minimize jurisdictional and functional impediments to efficient and effective service delivery. strengthening transport also requires setting up dedicated institutional bodies for urban transport planning and regulation, with commitment from the highest levels of government and a champion to further the cause of good management. • Building a political consensus among operators by transparently sharing information across multiple stakeholders requires engagement with existing transport operators to ensure that their livelihoods are protected and even enhanced. • A successful project design is based on an approach that is comprehensive (covers multiple administrative boundaries and is multimodal), continual (plans, planning data, and tools are updated on a regular basis), cooperative (all stakeholders develop communications plans and stakeholder analysis), connected (capital projects are consistent with adopted long-range plans),

championed (support at the highest political level and ownership), and changed incrementally (interventions are scaled up in an incremental fashion and allow flexibility in design). • skillful management of stakeholder expectations, two-way communication, and public involvement are essential for the success of urban transport projects. Engagement with transport operators in Accra, who are key stakeholders in the implementation of public transport reforms, got off on the wrong foot. They believed their livelihoods were endangered by the reforms, and so they long resisted the project. A successful system requires ownership by the existing operators, drivers, and users and incorporation of their specific concerns in the design. • It is equally critical to strengthen the enforcement capacity. Reforms cannot work unless new arrangements are consistently enforced based on formal statutes (for example, franchise operators should be protected against illegal operators).

This applies to public transport operations and traffic management. Consistent enforcement requires close coordination of all implementing agencies. • It is imperative to focus not only on the rapidly growing capital, but also on intermediary cities to use transport infrastructure to structure urban growth. As in many other countries in the region, most of the attention and funding on urban transport have been directed to the capital city. however, intermediary cities, such as Kumasi,

Tamale, and Takoradi need urgent attention and funding to respond to their urbanization. These intermediary cities are growing faster than Accra in terms of population and built-up area. however, very limited data are available on these cities, and urban transport has been clearly neglected. secondary cities in Ghana have the potential to become intermediary hubs between rural areas and the capital and external markets, which would enhance the country’s economic inclusion and reduce pressure in Greater Accra.