GRi BEF News Ghana
12 - 06 - 2001
Mahama
on phone charges by communication centres
American
company to build housing estates
Accra
(Greater Accra) 12 June 2001
Aircraft
movement at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) has declined following the
reduction of flight frequencies by some African airlines whilst others have
ceased operation.
This not
withstanding passengers going through the airport continues to grow, according
to statistics made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday.
Ethiopia
Airlines and Egypt Air have reduced their frequencies by one each while Air
Afrique and Air Burkina have not been consistent in their operations to Accra.
Three other
Airlines - Air Iviore, Nigerian Airways and Balkan Air - have ceased their
operations to KIA.
The
national carrier, Ghana Airways, has suspended its flights to Beirut and Dubai
and now flies direct to Baltimore through New York instead of the two separate
scheduled flights to the US.
Ghana
Airways now operates two aircraft on its West Coast route instead of three and
its four DC 10 aircraft have been reduced to two.
The
statistics indicate that the first four months of last year recorded 3,399
aircraft movements whilst the same period this year showed 3,224, indicating a
shortfall of 5.1 per cent.
Mr. Maxwell
Arthur, Director of Corporate Planning of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority
(GCAA) said the shortfall in aircraft movement could be attributed to managerial
problems, high cost of operations and loss of passengers to the major European
airlines.
He said
this has affected GCAA's revenue generation since the bulk of its total revenue
is earned from this.
"Aircraft
that fly over our airspace generate about 35 per cent of GCAA's total revenue
whilst landing and parking aircraft earn us about 25 per cent of our
revenue".
The other
40 per cent revenue is from freight, airport charges and rentals, among other
things.
Mr. Arthur
noted that flight frequencies of European airlines are on the increase. KLM
Royal Dutch Airline operates daily to and from Accra whilst British Airways and
Swiss Air have increased their frequencies by one.
The number
of passengers through the airport has, however, seen tremendous growth over the
past three years.
In 1999 and
2000 passengers through KIA stood at 55,3659 and 59,2276 respectively, an
increase of about seven per cent.
Passengers
who used the airport in the first four months of last year stood at 179,133 but
this rose to 200,515 during the same period this year indicating an increase of
11.9 per cent.
Mr. Arthur
expressed optimism about the future of the aviation industry saying,
"other airlines have indicated their intentions to begin operation to
KIA".
He said
plans are far advanced for Kenyan Airways to start operations to Accra just as
American Airlines have indicated their intention to fly the Accra-Atlanta
route.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 12 June 2001
The
minority spokesman on communications in Parliament, Mr John Mahama on Monday
urged operators of communication centres to exercise restraint in increasing
their charges following the new rates announced by the telecommunication
companies.
In a
statement issued in Accra, he said that communication is a critical tool for
development and must remain affordable to the people.
"The
recent increase in tariff by the telecom operators in the basic local charge
has been minimal and stands at 200 cedis for the first three minutes and 100
cedis per additional minute.
"However,
some communication centres are charging between 900 cedis and 1,000 cedis for
the first three minutes and 300 cedis per additional minute."
Mr Mahaha
said the difference in charges between the communication centres and telecom
operators is too wide and unjustifiable and called for dialogue between the
government and the umbrella association for communication centres to negotiate
reasonable and affordable charges for their services.
He urged
telecom operators to speed up their programmes for deploying additional
payphones especially in urban centres so as to increase the public's access to
telecommunication services.
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Kumasi
(Ashanti) 12 June 2001
A
sod-cutting ceremony for the first 120 upscale housing community would be
performed in July this year at Ahenema-Kokoben in the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma
District of Ashanti by a United States based company specialising in project
management of economic development initiative within African countries.
The African
Growth Economic Company (AGRECORP) was incorporated as a Ghanaian limited
partnership in July 1999 with the primary business interest being commercial
and residential estate development.
Ms Beverly
Ani Smith, the African-American Chief Executive Officer of AGRECORP, said it
would use the expertise and quality products available within the Ghanaian
market to complete the project.
Ms Smith,
who is working with fellow Americans and renowned Ghanaians including financial
consultants, architects and development managers, said capital for the project
will be realised through private investment from United States and developing
long term mortgaging options with Ghanaian financial institutions for potential
customers.
The housing
community when completed in two years, she said, would be the first upscale
luxury complex to be developed in the Ashanti region.
It would
include approximately 120 fully serviced sites to accommodate three to five
bed-room floor plans which would comprise one and single two-storey designs
with living space ranging from 2,500 feet to 5,500 feet.
Ms Smith
said a land has been secured through arrangements with Manhyia Palace and that
the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has given his approval to the project.
Mr Ivor
Agyeman-Duah, the Project's Development and Media Consultant, said AGRECORP's
and other non-governmental organisation would also contribute to education and
health.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 12 June 2001
The GSE-All
Share Index, the benchmark index of the Accra bourse, inched up a modest 0.01
points when Aluworks (ALW) gained one cedi to push it up.
The Index,
which marked time on Friday, opened the week up at 895.91 points from
895.50
points but the market continued to struggle under heavy bearish sentiments.
Traded
volumes fell to another low at 5,100 shares compared to 15,100 shares on
Friday.
The only
price change stood in the name of ALW that made one cedi to close at
7,101. The
change for the year to closed unchanged at 4.42 points.
Market
capitalisation went up marginally at 3,715.99 billion cedis from 3,715.98
billion cedis at the previous close.
The
following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 630
AGC 18,500
ALW 7,101 +1
BAT 550
CFAO 60
EIC 2,890
FML 800
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,600
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 240
MLC 130
MOGL 19,300
PAF 300
PBC 450
PZ 640
SCB 21,000
SPPC 301
SSB 2,300
UNIL 1,800
CMLT 425
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