Spatial catalogue awaits stakeholder confirmation

A catalogue of locations earmarked for secondary city development under a spatial analysis project being led by the National Planning Commission (NPC) is now almost ready and awaiting stakeholder validation.

NPC, with support from the Agriculture Transformation Initiative, Michigan State University, and Chancellor College’s Geography Department has since 2019 been conducting a three-year exercise to identify geographical locations that have comparative advantages for specific economic activities and development into secondary cities, with emphasis on rural transformation.

The cities will be developed around flagship bankable projects in the locations that will anchor their growth. The analysis will assist in resource allocation towards specific investments which have proven to be viable for particular geographical areas.

The exercise has so far mapped the country against existing assets, projects and opportunities per given location, also known as settlement catalogues.

Through the exercise, NPC has also analysed different parameters to determine the potential that the settlements have of becoming secondary cities. So far, three location in the southern region and two each in the central and northern regions of the country have been identified and included in the catalogue for prospective development into secondary cities.