Assessing Drivers of Infrastructure Delivery at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana

Abstract

This paper aimed at assessing drivers of infrastructure delivery at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana. The study followed the quantitative research approach. One hundred and twenty-one professionals (121) from thirty-six (36) MMDAs in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions of Ghana participated in a questionnaire survey. Mean Scores and One Sample t-test were used for the analysis of the data. The findings suggest that 10 factors listed as "effective managerial skills and proper supervision", "political commitment of central government", "effective communication", "attention to developing appropriate local authority procurement system", "proper cost budgeting", "checking corruption", "adequate resources for development", "adequate technical capacity", "elimination of political control in staff recruitment", and "adequate funding for infrastructure delivery" are the significant drivers of infrastructure delivery at the MMDAs. This study therefore recommends the establishment of efficient legal and institutional frameworks by the government to support and enhance the required capacities of the MMDAs for effective infrastructure delivery. The findings would help to address the infrastructural needs of local communities by presenting solutions to the challenges associated with infrastructure delivery which plague the MMDAs. Knowledge gained from this study could be applied to other similar developing countries pursuing decentralization as means to ensuring infrastructure delivery at the local government level.