Establishment of New Juaben South Municipal Assembly

The New Juaben South Municipal Assembly was established in 2017 with the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2301. Formally, it was New Juaben Municipal Assembly but changed to its present name after its northern sphere was carved out

Vision

A most developed Municipality with improved quality of life of people.

Mission

The New Juaben South Municipal Assembly exists to improve the Socio-Economic well-being of the Municipality through efficient and reliable provision of needed services.

Core Values

Professionalism, Transparency and Accountability, Service Delivery, Integrity, Team Work, Client-oriented, Loyalty and Commitment, Diligence, Discipline and Timeliness, Creativity and Innovativeness, Equity and Impartiality, Integrity.

LOCATION AND SIZE

New Juaben South Municipal Assembly is one of the thirty-three (33) Municipal Assemblies in the Eastern Region and covers a land area of 60 square kilometres. It shares boundaries with the following Assemblies; in the North with New Juaben North Municipal Assembly, to the South-East with Akwapim North Municipal and to the East Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly.

CLIMATE

The Municipality lies within the Semi-deciduous Forest Zone, with a bi-modal rainy season of between 1200mm and 1700mm reaching its maximum during the two peak periods of May/June and September/October. The dry season is relatively short and is experienced between November and February. Humidity and temperatures are generally high ranging between 20°C and 32°C. The mild temperatures have a significant bearing in making the municipality a major tourist destination. This has resulted in the construction of a number of first class hotels and hostels in the municipality.

RELIEF AND DRAINAGE

The land is gently undulating with heights ranging between 152 meters and 198 meters above mean sea level. The highest area is the mountain belt along the eastern boundary of the municipality.

The municipality is drained mainly by the Densu and its tributaries. These are mainly Bompom, Obopakko and Afena, , Nsuokwao and others. The Densu River is dammed the Densuagya where the water is treated and distributed to the municipality.

Human activities such as estate development, improper waste disposal into some streams have contributed to the near extinction of some of these streams.

Encroachments of nature reserves have impacted negatively on these streams even threaten their extinction. This has led to flooding problems that perennially confront most of the towns in the municipality.

VEGETATION

The New Juaben South Municipality falls within one of the three agro-climatic zones of the country, namely the semi-deciduous rain forest- The semi-deciduous forest zone is mainly the Celtic-Triplochiton Associates of Taylor (1952). Remnant species of these associates indicate that it covered about 85 percent of the total area from the extreme north near Tafo proceeding southward. Here the vegetation is mainly characterized by tall trees with evergreen undergrowth and used to be abundant with economic trees. Scattered patches of secondary or broken forest are present under most of the larger trees among which are Triplochitonscleroxylon (Wawa), Antaris Africana (Kyenkyen), Chlorophora excels (Odum), Ceibapentandra (Onyina) are now few occurring as scattered emergent.

ROAD NETWORK

The Municipal has a total of 596km of feeder roads and 298km being urban roads. The compact size of 110km2 gives it a road density of 3.2km which is relatively adequate and suitable for efficient movement of people, goods and services. The Urban road network is made up of approximately 138.07km (46%) paved and 159.93km (54%) unpaved.

POPULATION DEMOGRAPHY

The 2020 projected population of the Municipality is estimated at 232,776 with a growth rate of 2.5 percent. The male population constitutes 114,537 (49.2%) and the female population is 118,239 (51.7%).

The population is predominantly urban with about 93.3 percent of the population living in urban localities. The municipality has a sex ratio of 93, implying that to every 100 females there are 93 males. The municipality has a youthful population of about 30.8 percent of the population below 15 years.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STRUCTURE

The municipality is heterogeneous in terms of ethnicity with a high dominance of Akans and Ga-Adangbes. Ewes and people belonging to ethnic groups of the north also form significant proportions of the population in the municipality. With the Akan group, there is a fair mix of Asantes, Kwahus and Akims with a sizeable number of Akwapims. The municipality is predominantly Christian followed by Moslems and Traditional believers respectively. Source (GSS, 2010 PHC).

AGE-SEX STRUCTURE

The age group with the highest population within the Municipality is 20-24 years accounting for 12 percent of the population. Males in the age groups 0-4, 5-9 and 20-24 out-number their female counterparts while for all other age groups, females out number males. From the table, the Municipality has a youthful population with the population aged less than 15 years constituting almost a third (30.8 percent) of the population. The sex ratio (number of males to 100 females) of the Municipality is 93. However, for age groups, 0-4 (106), 5-9(102) and 20-24 (103), the sex ratios area more than 100. Sex ratios for age groups above 80 years are 17 lower than the overall average (93.3). In terms of locality of residence, less than 10 percent of the population in the Municipality live in rural areas.

TRADITION AND CULTURE

The cultural practices of people in the New Juaben South is similar to that of the Akans. Some of the Cultural practices are: Naming Ceremony, funerals, puberty and marriage rites. The major festival of the people of New Juaben South is Addae (Fofie, Wukudae and Akwasidae) which is celebrated in October. The annual celebration of Akwantukese also celebrated by the Chiefs and people is to commemorate the movement of the people from Old Juaben in Asante.

SECTORS OF THE MUNICIPAL ECONOMY

Economic Activities

The key sectors of the economy are; the service sector which constitutes 39.9 percent, industrial manufacturing and processing 26.7 percent, agriculture 26.1 percent and other socio-economic activities constitutes 7.3 percent. While majority of industrial establishments are found in the central business area of the Municipality, agricultural production is carried out in the small settlements and the peri-urban localities.

Markets

The strategic location of New Juaben South, sharing boundaries with Municipalities that are noted for agricultural production, provides an opportunity to develop agro processing facilities to make use of raw materials from these areas. The municipality on the other hand provides market for neighboring Districts and communities.

The municipal has various market centres for commercial activities especially for marketing farm produce. There are two (2) major markets located within the Central Business (CBD) these are Juaben Serwaa and Central Market and three (3) minor markets located at, Adweso, Zongo market and Agarta market.

The Markets are organized on either daily or weekly basis. Juaben Serwaa and Central Market have two market days in a week, Mondays and Thursdays.

LITERACY AND EDUCATION

More than 90 percent of the population aged 11 years and older in the Municipality are literate. Females have higher proportion of not literate population than males. Close to three quarters (72.0%) of the literate population are literate in English and a Ghanaian language(s).

Less than one percent are literate in English and French, with about one-fifth in English language only.

The majority (54.9%) of the population currently in school are in basic schools, i.e., primary and JSS/JHS. Persons in Senior High Schools constitute 12 percent of the population currently in school. The proportion (57.0%) of females in basic schools is higher than that of males (52.8%), but the reverse is the case for those in tertiary education (9.7 % for females and 15.3% for males).

SOCIAL SERVICES

The municipality has many educational centers running from Pre-School to Tertiary. The government, private and religious bodies run these institutions.

Education Facilities

Health Facilities

The municipality has a number of health facilities including a Regional Hospital which serves as a referral centre.

GOVERNANCE

The General Assembly of the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly is composed of fifty-one (51) members made up of;

• Municipal Chief Executive (MCE)
• Thirty-four (34) elected assembly members (32 males and 2 females)
• Fifteen (15) government appointed assembly members (10 males and 5 females)
• One (1) Member of Parliament (MP) representing New Juaben South constituency

 The Assembly has a Presiding Member who is elected by two-thirds of all the members of the assembly. He Chairs the Assembly meetings as well as the Complaints Committee. The Assembly has eight (8) Zonal councils namely; Old Estate, Srodae, Adweso, New Town, Ogua, Betom, Nsukwao and Anlo Town.

 The Assembly has 34 Electoral Areas these are;

Old Estate West
Old Estate East
Nyamekrom
Rail Way Station
Nsukwaoso Abotanso
Tanoso
Nsukwaoso
Osabene Mile -50
Adweso Estate
Adweso
Two Streams
Nyerede North
Nyerede South
Oguaa
Residential Area
Sempoammiensa
Ohemaa Park
Adontua
School Town
Anglican
Asuofiri
Anlo Town South
Anlo Town North
Central Hospital
Klu Town/Kyeremah
Social Welfare
Central Market area
Debrakrom
Akwaasu Asebi
Kantudu
Community A & B
Community C
Community D
Ada

SUB-COMMIITTEES

The Assembly has all the mandatory Sub-Committees in place. The committees comprise the various Assembly Members and the Departmental Heads who play various roles within the sub-committees.

The five mandatory sub-committees of the Assembly are Development Planning, Finance and Administration, Social Services, Works, and Justice and Security. In addition, the Assembly has two other Adhoc Committees; the Environmental and Agricultural sub-committees respectively.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Trade

• The strategic location of New Juaben South, sharing boundaries with Municipalities that are noted for agricultural production and its proximity to the national capital, Accra, provides an opportunity to develop agro- processing facilities.
• Koforidua has very promising business atmosphere and ranks as one of the top most municipalities that generates high revenue from its economy.
• There are two (2) major markets located within the Central Business (CBD) these are Juaben Serwaa and Central Market and three (3) minor markets located at, Adweso, Zongo market and Agarta market.
• One of the few beads markets in the African continent is located in New Juaben South. The market stocks and sells beads products from all across Ghana to customers from all over the globe.

Construction of market stores, stalls and shops with parking lot at Central and Zabarama markets

To construct an ultramodern market with underground car park and associated infrastructure such as convenient parking lot, clinic and security features.

Expected Project Outcome

• To give a facelift to the Central and Zambarama market
• A more convenient and better shopping experience for traders and shoppers.
• Improve revenue for the Assembly for development
• ■ Create job opportunities

CHALLENGES

A string of challenges confronts New Juaben South as it seeks to promote development of its economy, these are;

• Poor road network – the deplorable state of some roads affects economic activities
• Undeveloped tourist sites – None of the tourist sites are developed
• Security – the security situations that exist are mainly flooding, bounding disputes and inadequate streetlights.