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Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) in the Volta Region have been asked to expand their revenue collection by partnering the private sector, instead of relying mainly on market tolls for their Internally Generated Funds (IGF). The Volta Regional Minister, Madam Helen Adwoa Ntoso, who made the suggestion in an interview with The Chronicle at Ho recently, said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would continue to monitor and inspire the assemblies to work hard to enable them meet their development agenda. Madam Ntoso continued that the time had come for the assemblies to show high levels of commitment to work that would help them achieve the various development goals set. According to her, the MDAs should not wait for the District Assembly Common Fund before embarking on projects in their respective areas. To her, if the assemblies are innovative, they could raise more funds internally for development. She mentioned tourism and property rates as some of the areas the assemblies should concentrate their efforts to raise the needed funds, outside the Common Fund, for development. Madam Ntoso observed that development ought to be seen as a collective responsibility by all, and urged the people in the region to collaborate with the various assemblies, and give them the relevant support that would enable them meet development targets. She also advised the chief executives to cooperate with traditional authorities in their efforts to bring development to the people. The Regional Minister warned against the smuggling of fuel and cocoa to neighbouring Togo, and that the practice denied the country and the Volta Region in particular, the needed resources to execute development projects. Madam Ntoso announced that a regional taskforce had been formed to clampdown on smugglers who take advantage of the porous nature of borders in the region to embark on their nefarious activities. She commended the various security agencies at the Aflao border for arresting seven suspected criminals operating in the area a few days after she visited the border to hold discussions with them. The Chief of the Ziavi in the Ho Municipality, Togbega Koku Ayim IV, assured the Municipal and District assemblies of the region that the Regional House of Chiefs would work hard to bring investors to do business in the region. He stressed that cooperation with chiefs by the various leaders at the assemblies would facilitate the rapid development of the region. Togbega Koku Ayim pointed out that one most important area that needed effective collaboration between the assemblies and chiefs was sanitation. He regretted that attention was being given to the urban centres than the rural when it comes to sanitation. The Ziavi Chief, therefore, appealed to the government, through the Regional Minister, to employ the graduates of the School of Hygiene to support in maintaining sanitary conditions at the various assemblies, if lack of personnel was the challenge.