GRi BEF News Ghana 03 - 09 - 2001
Ghanaian Vessel to start operations soon
Entrepreneurs urged to invest in tourism
Rural Bank calls for food processing factory
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 03 September 2001- A Ghanaian owned vessel will soon start operation to help boost the country's foreign exchange earning.
The Company to run the vessel, Bright Star Shipping Line, has already received its registration and business certificates.
Nana Opoku Agyeman III, Adwumakase-Kesehene and a Director of the Company, said in a press release in Kumasi that the government's efforts at making Ghana the gateway to West Africa has made it necessary for the establishment of a Ghanaian shipping line.
The release noted that about 90 per cent of Ghana's import and export trade, which stands at seven million tonnes annually, is moved by ocean going vessels.
With the average minimum freight charge of 50 dollars per tonne, freight amount from cargo "to and from Ghana" is about 350 million dollars a year.
"If by conservative estimation, 20 per cent of the cargo is carried by Ghanaian vessels, the country stands to earn 70 million dollars annually".
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Tamale (Northern Region) 03 September 2001 - Ben Bukari Salifu, Northern Regional Minister, has asked entrepreneurs doing business in the Region to direct their investment into the tourist industry.
He said hoteliers and managers of restaurants should not limit their services to only the provision of accommodation but to consider offering services such as tour operation, amusement parks, sports facilities and private museums.
Addressing participants at a workshop for hotel operators in the Northern Region organised by the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) for 21 hoteliers on Saturday, Mr Salifu urged private sector businesses to support public organisations such as the GTB, Centre for National Culture and local communities to develop tourist attractions to make the Region a tourist destination.
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Ekumfi-Otuam (Central Region) 03 September 2001 - The Management of Ekuman Rural Bank at Ekumfi-Essueshira, in the Central Region, have appealed to the government to establish a pineapple processing factory in the area to solve marketing problems facing pineapple producers.
The establishment of such factory would encourage the youth to embark on large-scale pineapple plantation and reduce their drift to the big cities to search for jobs, Michael Kumi Frimpong, Acting manager of the Ekumfiman Rural Bank, stated during funds mobilisation campaign at Ekumfi-Otuam last Tuesday.
Mr. Frimpong said the bank encourages the unemployed youth to undertake pineapple farming by granting them loans, "but this laudable effort had been thwarted by lack of ready and good market for their produce."
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