The Ruling NPP Administration under the leadership of his Excellency President John Agyekum Kufuor has chalked another tremendous success. And barring any unforeseen circumstances this morning, the President of the Republic is expected to cut the sod for the commencement of the construction of the Bui Hydroelectric Power Project at Bui in the Brong Ahafo region.
The Bui dam which has been on the drawing board since 1920's was later to be identified in the 1960's by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's led CPP government as an additional solution to the country's energy problems soon after the start of the Akosombo Dam According to Energy Minister Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, the project is to cost the country a colossal sum of US $622 million made up of a US$562 million loan contracted by the Government of Ghana from the People's Republic of China and the provision of counterpart funding of US $ 60 million by the Ghana Government. The implementation of the Bui Dam project was bogged down and put on hold by the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1966. Past governments including the P/NDC governments made no effort to bring the project into reality. The Bui hydro-electric project has been identified by the NPP government as one of the major long-term solutions to the energy needs of the country. This has been due to the drying up of the Akosombo dam necessitating the power rationing programme by the Volta River Authority and the shutting down of four of its six turbines at the dam. In order to make the project a holistic venture the Government re-engineered and redesigned the project to address the concerns of environmentalists who felt that that the fora and fauna and at the Bui ecological site would be destroyed. This is because the Bui area in the Brong Ahafo Region is known for the habitation of the endangered black hippopotamus specie. At the initial stages in 1960's it was estimated that the Bui dam project was expected to contribute 10 per cent of the then anticipated national requirement of 1700 mega watts. But with the re-engineering of the Project when completed, the dam is expected to add 400 mega watts of electricity instead of 170 mega watts initial expectation. The re-engineering of the project ensures that when completed the Bui project would become a multi-purpose project. It is to be used as a tool in the transformation of the catchment areas and the entire Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions, The vegetation and landscape of the place would be intact, with a towering pinnacle built at the centre of the area which tourists could climb to capture a panoramic view of the entire Bui area. So, as the Minister of Energy Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda disclosed, the project would not only be used for energy production, but also for other uses such as irrigation, fisheries and tourism, particularly eco-tourism. Throughout the history of the country, it becomes an incontestable fact that the NPP Government has been the administration apart from the CPP that has been very anxious to solve the energy problems of the country. It has put in place short, medium and long term measures to solve the energy problems once and for all. Among the measures are the importation of millions of energy saving bulbs to be exchanged for the high energy consuming bulbs presently in use by Ghanaians. When this project is successfully carried through, the country is to save as much as 200 mega watts.
The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) registered 95 projects at an estimated value of 78.95 million dollars for the second quarter of this year Five of the projects are Ghanaian owned, 42 joint ventures and 48 foreign owned, making the number much higher that the average number normally registered within a quarter. It was also much higher than the 70 projects registered during the same period last year. A GIPC Quarterly report signed by Mr. Robert Ahomka-Lindsey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre, and issued to GNA on Wednesday, indicated that the amount included Foreign Direct Investment component of 88.9 percent and a local currency of 8.61 per cent. The report said Chinese and Indians continued to top the list of countries from where a greater number of projects originated during the period. The others included the UK, Lebanon, Germany, USA, South Africa, Korea, La Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, the Netherlands, Austria, Bahrain, Sweden and Cyprus. .... Read
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President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday challenged the Health Ministry to lead public education on lifestyle diseases, which now accounted for many deaths in the country. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cancers were becoming prevalent as the structure of the economy changed for the better, a development, which had brought with it lifestyles that were disposing an increasing number of people to these diseases, he noted. President Kufuor, who was opening the first Ghana International Health Fair, said by adopting preventive health care, visits to the hospitals could be significantly brought down. It was on the basis of this that promotion of healthy lifestyles and environmental improvements had become key components of the Government's new health policy, President Kufuor said. He described Ghana's life expectancy rate of 57 years, as "low" and therefore the need for special interventions for improvement. "This is very urgent in the face of the country's development vision of attaining middle income status within the next decade." President Kufuor spoke of the Government's determination to continue to invest in the health sector to ensure that people in all parts of the country had access to quality and affordable health-care and emergency services when required. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), he said, had been established as the national "safety net" for all, especially the poor and vulnerable. About 43 per cent of Ghanaians have already been registered under the scheme. President Kufuor said for efficient management of the NHIS, the Government had secured a 15 million-dollar loan from the World Bank to equip it with ICT solutions. Besides, 19 Ambulance Stations had been established with an ultra-modern Accidents and Emergency Service Centre nearing completion at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. He also outlined a number of measures taken to stem the flow of health professionals to other countries and mentioned steady improvement of their conditions of service through provision of incentive packages like car and housing loans. The upgrading of health sector infrastructure, he said, remained on course and announced that 23 dental facilities would soon be inaugurated nation-wide. .... Read
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