President John Mills says he is saddened by the over-reliance by local assemblies on the Common Fund to finance development projects. He said unless the Chief Executives adopt innovative methods of revenue mobilization to reverse the trend, development in many areas will continue to be slow. The President was addressing a conference of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives from the northern sector of the country in Kumasi. The three day conference is under the theme:"Implementing a better Ghana Agenda through sustainable local economic development." Lov FM’s reporter Elton John Brobbey said representatives from 87 Assemblies from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and the three Northern Regions in the country are attending the conference. The president said some of the Assemblies have a potential to raise enough local revenue so as not to rely solely on the District Assembly Common Fund. He challenged the MMDA’s to take advantage of property tax and asked the Chief Executives to redouble their efforts to enable them attain the set targets. “We have one and half more years to go. There is a lot more that needs to be done. “…The people of Ghana, and justifiably so, expect quite a lot from us. But I want to assure them that we are going to give off our best so that after our four years they themselves will appeal to us to stay in power for four more years. The Local Government minister Samuel Ofosu Ampofo regretted the many sanitation challenges the Assemblies are grappling with. He called for more collaboration with technocrats to address the challenges. Source: Joy News/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana