Tema (Greater Accra) 21 October 2002- Seven
marine related companies have teamed up to form the Ghana Ports Consortium
(GPS), to invest about 200 million dollars in the infrastructure developments
of the Tema Port.
Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Roads and
Transport who announced this at the weekend at a meeting with some members of
the Board of Directors and management of the
The consortium is made up of AP Terminals,
the world's largest container shipping line, Bathgate Management Limited,
leading infrastructure developer, Beckett Ranking Partnership, an international
port consultancy and Bonygues Travaux Publique, the largest construction
company in
Others are Mersey Docks and Harbour Company,
of Liverpool, SDV Ghana Limited (BoUore Group), which is
He pointed out that there was the need to
fast track the development and management of a container terminal to increase
the capacity at the port. Dr Anane disclosed that government had studied the
proposals offered by GPS, and had, therefore, given the approval to the GPHA to
negotiate and award the concession to the consortium.
Mr Ben Owusu Mensah, Director-General of the
GPHA said, that was why the GPHA as part of its efforts to play its expected
role in
He said the container terminal should be able
to initially stock 100,000 containers, and in the process of growth reach about
a million. The Director-General disclosed that the project would be completed
within 18 months, and emphasised that, just as "we are privatising a lot
of facilities at the port so that GPHA becomes the landlord, this will be
managed by the GPS consortium."
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 21 October 2002 - The
Government has been urged to amend the National Liberation Council (NLC) Decree
of 1968 Section 252, to ensure the growth and future viability of credit
unions.
Mrs Aba Smith, National Chairperson of Credit
Union Association (CUA), made the appeal at this year's celebration of the
International Credit Union Day in Sunyani, on the theme "Credit Union:
Building A Better Tomorrow".
She described the decree as outmoded and said
it did not create a competitive and enabling environment for the Association's
operations. Mrs Smith said the Credit Union movement was the only non-banking
financial institution with 250 branches throughout the country, adding that,
its potential for future growth was very great.
She said the Association with the support of
the Ministry of Employment and Manpower Development had drafted a Credit Union
Act and expressed regret that work on the draft had delayed. "We feel
something should be quickly done about it," Mrs Smith added.
Mrs Smith said, "We feel we need the
government and the government also needs to practically support our efforts on
wealth creation and the provision of basic human needs".
She said the movement operated on safe and
sound business principles devoid of maximising profits. It was also alive to
its social responsibility to members and had incorporated HIV/AIDS awareness
and education in its activities.
Mrs Smith announced that the Board of
Directors of the CUA had agreed to float shares and establish a training centre
at Kasoa, in the Central Region. She said as at December 2001, it had
accumulated 100.6 billion cedis as deposits while outstanding loans stood at
71.4 billion cedis with a total membership of 103,822.
Prince Yeboah Marfo, Chairperson of the
Brong-Ahafo Chapter of the Association, said the region had 30 Unions and Study
Groups with more than 11,000 members. As at December last year, deposits in the
Region was 7.3 billion cedis, disbursed 5.2 billion cedis as loans and
accumulated assets worth 8.4 billion cedis.
He said, "The negative factors that
almost caused the demise of Credit Unions in the country belonged to the
past," and asked people to enrol. Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Sunyani
District Chief Executive commended CUA for its contribution to the economy and
the well being of members.
He advised the administrators of the
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