Accra (Greater Accra) 07 February 2002 - Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Mines, on Wednesday inaugurated a six-member Board of Directors for the Precious Minerals Marketing Company Limited (PMMC) and tasked it to work towards expanding the company's jewellery production and marketing to capture the sub-region.
He, however, cautioned them against usurping the powers and functions of the management. "You must rather introduce more innovative ways of expanding jewellery production of the company to enhance its viability and sustainability," he said.
"You should evolve an aggressive marketing programme to capture greater share of the jewellery market in the ECOWAS sub-region." The PMMC, established, in 1963, to market gold and diamonds produced by the small-scale mining sub-sector, had been without a board for 10 years.
The company also has the mandate to promote and develop precious minerals and the jewellery industry in Ghana. Mr Adjei-Darko commended the management for running the company smoothly over the years and for the regular manner in which the company paid dividend to the government.
Mr Stephen Adubofour, Chairman of the Board, pledged that it would ensure that small-scale producers of minerals had fair prices for their products and said the board would establish the necessary programmes to help in the development of the jewellery sector to enhance the operations of the company. "We anticipate that our efforts will help not only to increase production but also minimise smuggling of these precious minerals," he added.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 07 February 2002 - The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) on Wednesday said it had asked the utility companies to produce Consumer Charters to inform the public about the quality and level of service they should expect from them.
The Volta River Authority (VRA), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) are expected to submit the Charter, which would also spell out the rights and obligations of both the consumers and the utility companies, by close of June this year.
The Chairman of the Commission, Nana (Dr) S. K. B. Asante said at a public forum to provide consumers and the public the opportunity to seek answers to issues affecting the quality of service, that the Charter was one of the broad mechanism instituted by the Commission to enable it to monitor effectively the performance of the companies.
Other measures include a reporting format for the utilities, creation of a monitoring team, which is involved in outreach programmes and visits to sites to obtain relevant data. The forum is an intensification of an interactive process to bridge the communication gap between the utility providers and the consumers.
Under the PURC Act, the Commission regulates electricity and water supply, examines and approves water and electricity rates, protects the interest of consumers and providers of utility services and monitors and enforces standard of performance for provision of utility services.
Nana Dr Asante said the Commission would continue to strive for a balance between efficiency and the level of tariff paid by consumers to the utilities, emphasising that inefficiencies that were built into tariffs submitted to the Commission would be excluded.
He expressed delight at the co-operation of the companies in the improvement of the quality of service and their level of response to consumers' needs. Mr Badu Brown, President of the Ghana National Association of Consumers, commended the utilities for the improved level of service consumers now enjoyed.
However, he said, there was the need for them to cut down on delays in responding to problems reported to them. sMr Kwesi Asafo-Adjei of Accra Brewery said there was the need for the utilities to improve on communication with the public, saying the interruption of service without prior notice resulted in a lot of inconveniences to consumers.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 07 February 2002 - The Ghana Trade Fair Company (GTFC) needs more than 600 million cedis to replace worn out electrical cables serving the fair grounds.
The cables serve the various pavilions and have been in use for the last 38 years. "They have, therefore, lost resistance and risk causing a major fire outbreak if not changed before the International Fair slated for February 28 to March 11," Electrical Engineers working at the fair grounds told the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday.
Mr Enor Mensah, Managing Director of EM Control Limited, engineers at the fair grounds, said: "The cables, all underground, are so old and weak that if we do not replace them before the fair, they may blow up and cause damage to life and property."
He said usually such cables should be changed every 20 years. "But here we are 38 years on and nothing has been done." Mr Mensah said the cost of replacing the cables alone without civil engineering; pipes and other expenditure would be in the region of about 400 million cedis.
Ms Esther Ofori, Chief Executive of the GTFC described the situation as a "major breakdown that is being rectified to ensure that the fair takes off smoothly. "The whole Trade Fair grounds cannot be covered now. But we will cover the areas that would need high power base during the fair and the rest done later."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 07 February 2002 - The GSE All-Share Index slipped on Wednesday under the pressure of a 50-cedi loss by Pioneer Aluminium Factory (PAF).
The index, the main market gauge, went down by 0.41 points to 961.27 points, despite two other equities, Patterson Zochonis (PZ) and Mobil Oil Ghana Limited (MOGL, gaining one cedi each. Change for the year also slipped to 0.56 per cent from 0.60 per cent, but total shares traded increased to 61,400 shares from 11,600 shares.
Market capitalisation also went down to 3,914.35 billion cedis from 3,915.14 billion cedis. The following are the closing prices of the equities in cedis:
ABL 320
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,300
BAT 627
CFAO 60
EIC 3,110
FML 950
GBL 1,000
GCB 1,578
GGL 910
HFC 952
MGL 241
MLC 145
MOGL 18,502 +1
PAF 750 -50
PBC 450
PZ 1,051 +1
SCB 20,551
SPPC 341
SSB 2,200
UNIL 2,400
CMLT 430
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Accra (Greater Accra) 07 February 2002 - The following are the average inter-bank exchange rates of the cedi to the dollar and derived rates for other major foreign currencies announced on Wednesday February 6, 2002, by the Ghana Association of
Bankers.
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 7,220.09 7,429.18
Pound Sterling 10,209.93 10,509.32
Swiss Franc 4,246.35 4,367.24
Canadian Dollar 4,520.67 4,650.14
Japanese Yen 53.94 55.48
S/African Rand 630.10 646.51
Euro 6,253.40 6,428.90
CFA Franc 9.53 9.80
Naira 62.98 64.80
Ecowas/WAUA 9,004.70 ----------
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