The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) this week handed over a high resolution Multispectral Satellite Image of Greater Ghana to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, following a request from the Vice-President to support the street naming initiative of the country.

According to ECA’s ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD), the Satellite image is expected to provide a strong base for three-dimensional feature recognition, extraction and exploitation for development of permanent or transient addresses needed for better public services delivery, in such areas as access to markets, emergency response, delivery of goods and revenue collection in urban and rural areas.

The high-resolution orthorectified satellite imagery was handed over by the ISTD director, Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, to the Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development in Accra, Ghana.

In receiving the image, Mr. Elvis Afriye Ankrah, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development thanked ECA “for coming through for the Ministry and in supporting the street naming initiative with this imagery that covers the whole of the Greater Accra Region”. Ms Opoku-Mensah in turn assured the Ministry that “ECA will continue to provide geo-information support to the country”.

ECA’s support to the Ghanaian Government was granted following a request from the Vice-President of Ghana, for assistance to better understand the Geographic Urban Service Infrastructure, including National Street Addressing and Numbering of the country. The support would include defining a common action plan for implementation.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was then signed between ECA and the Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development (MLGRD) as recipients of ECA's technical assistance. The MoU covers several activities and services, including the provision of very high resolution orthorectifed satellite imagery covering Greater Accra.

Other aspects of the MOU also include a baseline study, as well as technical assistance for a policy framework to guide and coordinate actions among all stakeholders (including definition of standards for urban land management information systems). These activities are accompanied by capacity building of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD).

When fully implemented, ECA’s assistance will culminate in the development of a strategic policy framework for Geographic Urban Service Infrastructure systems in Ghana. The strategy will comprehensively incorporate policies, technical and regulatory frameworks on urban land management systems fully harmonized and aligned to national e-strategies: spatial data infrastructures (NSDI), national information and communication infrastructure (NICI), national statistical data systems, among others. Ghana’s example will also be rolled out to other countries in Africa.

The imagery procured by ECA is a GeoStereo Orthorectified Multispectral Satellite Image that is GIS-ready and ideally suited for creating and/or revising cadastral mapping and updating urban features as well as other analytical applications that require a high degree of accuracy.

Issued by:

ECA Information and Communication Service
P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia