The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has sensitized the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) on provision in the Environmental Protection Act 2025.
About 50 physical planners drawn from 43 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Ashanti Region were enlightened on the Act 1124 organised by the Ashanti Regional office of the EPA.
Addressing the opening session of the sensitization workshop held in Kumasi, Dr Jackson Adiyiah Nyantakyi, the Ashanti Regional Director of the EPA commended the passage Act which he noted would reform the nation’s environmental governance.
He said: “The Act empowers the EPA to take full oversight responsibility on all environmental matters, including the authority to review and revoke rezoning decisions on environmentally sensitive areas of the MMDAs which may have negative impacts on public health”.
Dr Nyantakyi expressed the hope that with the Act the operational mandate and capacity of the EPA would be enhanced, saying the old EPA Act 1994, (Act 490) was limited and did not adequately address emerging environmental challenges like electronic waste, pesticide management and control as well as climate change.
He urged physical planning to align their planning processes with provisions in the Act 1124 and to improve environmental management in the region.
Alhaji Sulley Zikiru, the Ashanti Regional Director of LUSPA, commended the EPA describing the sensitization as in-depth and insightful, saying it would well position planners to work effectively.