GRi Business, Economics & Finance 17 - 06 - 2002
Price of land at Free-Zones enclave slashed
Ghana gets first online bank card in West Africa
Help bank regain enviable image - Director
Price of land at Free-Zones enclave slashed
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 June 2002- The Ghana Free Zones Board had successfully concluded negotiations with the International Land Development Company, one of the developers within the Zones, to cut down the cost of land within the enclave to enable more prospective investors to take advantage of the facility.
Under the arrangements, an acre of land within the zone would be sold for 20,000 dollars instead 60,000 dollars being paid for the same portion of land. Mr Andy Appiah-Kubi, Acting Director of the Board, announced this when journalists toured the processing zones on Thursday.
He said: "We have the feeling that the high cost of land was in a way driving potential investors from the processing zones and we agreed that the exorbitant price must come down to allow interested companies to take advantage of the initiative."
Mr Appiah-Kubi mentioned that both the Board and the company were concerned with the high cost of land and agreed to ensure that the price to this factor of production be reduced to enable interested companies to locate their firms or businesses within the enclave.
He said both parties had also acknowledged the need to allow prospective investors interested in the new measure to pay for land acquired on instalment while they carried on their activities. "This, I hope, would open the way for local investors to take advantage of the attractions that are offered by locating in the zones."
Mr Appiah-Kubi said similar negotiations were being made with Business Focus Group, another developer within the zones, to enable the Board reclaim half of the land that was allocated to the company to another developer to speed up the process.
The company alone owns 702 acres of the total processing zone area of 1,288 acres, while the International Land Development Company has 212 acres. Some part of the remaining area yet to be acquired was being set aside for companies which would take advantage of the special Presidential (government) initiative on Textiles and Garments and Cassava and Starch.
On power supply to the zones, Mr Appiah-Kubi said the Board was negotiating a power purchase agreement with the Volta River Authority (VRA). He said there was the need to share responsibility for bringing power to the site because the VRA alone could not pre-finance the project.
Nana Akwasi Kumah, Chief Resident Engineer ABP Consult, consultant to the project, said construction work on a four-way access road from the Tema
Motorway to link the processing zones and development of water supply and sewage system were progressing steadily.
He expressed the hope that the work would be completed on schedule. The International Development Agency is funding the project at the cost of 103 billion cedis with the Ghana government contributing 10 per cent.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Ghana) 17 June 2002 - Ghana-based Transaction Management Services (TMS) is using technology from S2 Systems to provide the first domestic online debit card POS (point of sale) services in West Africa. The move will revolutionize the region's banking services, which are only used by a small minority of the population who rely heavily on cash transactions.
Dr Kwabena Appenteng, General Manager of TMS, commented: "At present, the only cards available to the majority of the population are off-line, and, a bit like a phone card, require the customer to pay out money before they can enjoy a service. The demand for more cost-effective card payment options is growing as using cash is less secure and increasingly less convenient."
TMS, which is using S2 Systems' open, flexible transaction solution OpeN/2(R), will provide the central processing services, EFT switch, POS management and interfaces necessary to support online bank cards. The first product to utilise the new system will be the domestic debit card "E-Card," launched by three of Ghana's 14 banks - Ecobank, CAL Merchant Bank and The Trust Bank.
"E-Card will be the first of many products to rely on the transaction processing and authorization capabilities of OpeN/2(R)," added Dr Appenteng. "This is an extremely high-profile project as many of the banks in the region are keen to develop new products that will increase the use of banking services, and encourage people to make fewer cash-based transactions."
Recent E-Card trials have proved successful and the card will be generally available from this June. George Ogden, Market Development Director for S2 Systems
EMEA, commented: "We are delighted to be part of such an exciting project, which is one of the first steps towards enhancing West Africa's banking infrastructure. OpeN/2(R) has achieved the highest number of online transactions per second in the world of EFT systems, and can be easily scaled to meet growing customer demand in Ghana and neighbouring countries."
The TMS system, which is the most technically advanced transaction-processing environment in West Africa, will initially use a closed private radio network to connect point of sale devices with OpeN/2(R). This will soon be extended to support fixed line connections within the next year.
"S2 Systems has made a considerable effort to understand the technology needs of banks in the region, which proves their commitment to the project and to helping enhance the banking infrastructure in Ghana and beyond," added Dr Appenteng.
S2 Systems, Inc. is a leading global provider of mission-critical enterprise payment and transaction management solutions for the banking, financial services, retail, telecommunications, utilities and travel & hospitality industries.
Today, S2 Systems technology is the best of its class in price and performance, delivering improved reliability and availability to businesses worldwide, with the industry's best ROI. And for nearly 20 years, some of the world's largest organisations have relied on S2 products to drive their high-volume transaction processing systems.
S2 Systems is headquartered in Dallas, and has offices in Atlanta, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Dubai, Riyadh, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and Sydney. For more information about S2 Systems, visit its web site at www.s2systems.com.
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 17 June 2002-Mr Kwabena Dapaah Siakwan, Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) in-charge of Finance and Administration, has appealed to staff to support the bank regain its enviable image and position as the "first strong commercial bank" to be established in the country.
Mr Siakwan was addressing football players and officials of Sunyani and Kumasi zones of the bank at a reception after a special friendly soccer and tug-of-war competitions in Sunyani at the weekend. He said the management recognises the important role that sports play in people's lives, adding that the inclusion of sports in the bank's transformation exercise was thus in the right direction.
The Deputy Managing Director reminded the staff of the public's negative perception of its operations and "to reverse the trend there is the need for all of us to join hands to effect a positive change".
Mr Siakwan noted that the bank could achieve its objectives if the workers changed their negative attitudes towards work. Very soon members of the reconstituted board of directors will launch a major attitudinal change programme under which an education committee will meet and interact with staff at seminars and symposia, he said.
The Deputy Managing Director said the committee would not limit its activities to the cities and regional capitals, but would also meet workers in the districts.
Mr Siakwan emphasised that since the bulk of the bank's income is generated from its customers, the workers need to treat customers satisfactorily to sustain the bank in business. He cited that the bank's CIMG award in 2001 was the result of the collective effort of the workers and called on them to work harder for more of such achievements.
"We want to be an established leader amongst commercial banks in Ghana," Mr Siakwan said. In the men's soccer match, Sunyani zone defeated Kumasi 4-3, while their women representative side also spanked Kumasi 4-1. Kumasi had a 2-0 pull against Sunyani in the men's tug-of-war.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com