The National President of Local Government and Head of the Physical Planning Department, Gifty Nyarko, has clarified that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are the planning authorities mandated by law to oversee physical development, but do not directly issue development permits.

Speaking on the Joy Super Morning Show on July 7, Madam Nyarko explained that before 2016, the department operated as the Town and Country Planning Department.

However, following the passage of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 (Act 925), the department was integrated into the Local Government Service at the district level.

She said while the national and regional offices now operate under the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA), district-level physical planning departments function within the Local Government Service.

According to Madam Nyarko, physical planning officers serve as the secretariat responsible for receiving and processing applications for physical development.

“We take the applications, process them and submit them to the Technical Sub-Committee before they are forwarded to the Spatial Planning Committee for approval,” she said.

She explained that after approvals are granted, development control is carried out in collaboration with engineers through the Planning and Building Inspectorate Unit to ensure that construction conforms to approved plans and planning regulations.

She stressed that the responsibility of planning officers extends beyond processing applications to monitoring developments to prevent unauthorised construction.

However, Madam Nyarko clarified that although physical planning officers and the Works Department play key roles in the permitting process, they do not issue development permits.

“By law, every MMDA is the planning authority. Even though we play our respective roles, we are not the authorities that issue permits. We only sign on behalf of the committee,” she said.