Planning practitioners expect Geographical Information System (GIS) technology to be integrated into the new Land Administration Project (LAP).
The application of GIS is powerful in urban planning and monitoring of development projects. The system helps in determining and attaching every piece of information to each unit of land or space.
Vice-President of the Ghana Institute of Planners, Prof. Sam Afranie said the incorporation of GIS technology in planning will promote sustainable infrastructural development.
“Look at the big cities, there is no way we can move left and right to be able to monitor developments without ICT and that is what GIS does for us and therefore in planning that is the way we are going” he stated.
Prof. Afranie observed the system has not been developed so well in Ghana, but would be “introduced and installed” under the LAP for application in planning practices.
“The Planning Department [of the KNUST] is involved as one of the users and also the Ghana Institute of Planners is also involved and through that we are somehow building a local system which would be applicable to our local situation” said the planner.
Prof. Afranie stressed the need for people to benefit from information communication technology, including application in urban planning.
The Land Administration project seeks to lay the foundation for a self-sustaining land administration system that is fair, efficient, transparent, cost effective and which guarantees security of tenure.
Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana