Spanish Government donates computers to Ghana Immigration Service

Accra, March 10, GNA – The Spanish Government on Wednesday presented 26 computers with accessories and anti counterfeiting machines valued at about 58,000 Euros to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in Accra to boost it’s
operations.

Mr. Vicente Garcia Sanjuan, Head of Migration Desk, Office of the Director-General, Migration and International Relationship, Ministry of Interior, Spain who presented the items lauded the excellent and effective collaboration between Ghana and Spain in the fight against illegal immigrants and organised crime.

He noted that while legal migrations opened door to a world of opportunities, illegal immigration was dehumanising and helped groups engaged in human trafficking.

Mr. Sanjuan said criminal groups that engaged in organised crime usually left victims especially women and children in sexual exploitation, marginalisation, social exclusion and slavery. “The migrants sometimes make outrageous commitment, with members of organised crime that tie them or their families for many years,” he added. Mr. Sanjuan contended that it was the duty of authorities to fight against illegal immigrant and reduce the action of organised crime by ensuring that law enforcement agencies enforced laws on migration.
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ONLINE SERVICE ENABLES SUPPLEMENTING NEEDS OF FAMILY IN GHANA

Ghanamart Inc. introduces the new and easy means for Ghanaians living abroad to supplement the needs of families and loved ones back home through the use of e-commerce technology. E-commerce has over the past decade emerged as the new way to do business but due to some structural challenges the phenomenon has not quite taken off yet in Ghana and most African countries. Ghanamart provides a medium that embraces these peculiar challenges and provides solutions to a smooth e-transaction. It aims at becoming a one-stop shopping e-commerce website for people seeking to buy goods and services for family. Patrons just log on to the website http://www.ghanamart.com, and complete their transactions.

Currently, Ghanamart is offering cellphone units for most major networks in Ghana. With Ghanamart, once the sale is complete the recipient’s phone is automatically credited. This means there is no need for entering pin numbers before units are loaded,http://www.ghanamart.com is the only website that does the units transfer automatically in a transactional way. Customers don’t have to prepay on an account before using the service, payment is only made at time of purchase.  Ghanamart differentiates itself by offering exceptional and outstanding customer service, making the experience easy, yet secure, reliable and efficient. It also has a dedicated toll free customer service line for US and Canada customers, and a UK support line for customers in Europe.

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Attorney General Scrutinises Drafted Petroleum Bill

The government has drafted a Petroleum Bill which seeks to ensure that Ghanaians derive maximum benefit from the country’s oil and gas resources. The bill also contains a framework to achieve local content and 90 per cent local participation in petroleum activities in the country by the year 2020.

Currently being scrutinised by the Attorney-General’s office, the bill underlines measures which enjoin operators in the oil industry to conform to the ‘country’s laws, as well as operate within environmentally accepted limits, among others. In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, said under the bill, a Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) was expected to be established to oversee and monitor the activities of industry players as part of the government’s policy to ensure that Ghanaians derived maximum benefit from the oil find.

He explained that although the past New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration developed a policy which merged PNDC Law 84 and the Regulatory Framework, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had decided to separate the two to make it simpler, clearer and more transparent for oil companies to access and make decisions.

The minister said local content and participation referred to the level of use of Ghanaian expertise, goods and services, people, businesses and financing ill oil and gas activities. He said a key development objective of the government was to grow the economy to rapidly achieve accelerated development and industrialisation, adding that the oil and gas industry was known to contribute significantly to the strong economic growth of countries that produced the two commodities.

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Oil To Flow This Year

Tullow Oil is on course to pump the first oil from Ghana’s giant Jubilee field in the last quarter of 2010, a company official said on Wednesday. ”We are 298 days away from pumping the first oil and so far everything is on target,” Anthony Djokoto, senior legal adviser at Tullow in Ghana told Reuters.

The field is estimated to hold as much as 1.8 billion barrels of oil, and output could ramp up to 150,000 barrels per day within months of startup. Ghana, a major gold and cocoa producer, expects income from oil exports to significantly boost its economy.

Djokoto said Tullow obtained the first part of certification from the Environmental Protection Agency on December 31.   ”Operationally and legally, we are on course,” he said. ”We don’t see any obstacle or any legal hurdle that could derail this target,” Djokoto said when asked about the possible impact of the standoff between fellow stakeholder Kosmos Energy and state regulator Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on the intended production date.

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Attorney General: Ghana Reserves Rights To Decide Oil Patners

Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice on Tuesday served notice Ghana will defend her inalienable right to ‘know’ who partners the country to explore her discovered oil.

She said this is essential because under Ghanaian laws, “the rights to petroleum existing in its natural state within the jurisdiction of Ghana is the property of the people of Ghana vested in the Government” and that no other entity can dictate who that partner should be.

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Ghana to Reclaim Number One Position in Cocoa Production

The Ghana Cocoa Board has set a production target of one million metric tons of cocoa to be attained by 2012. This is to enable Ghana to reclaim the number one position in global cocoa production from the anticipated 670 thousand metric tons of cocoa to be produced this season. The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nii Amasah Namoale announced this at an awards ceremony for 39 farmers and 300 purchasing clerks of Olam Ghana Limited, a Licensed Buying Company at Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region. They were awarded for their hard work and dedication to duty. They received Wellington Boots, wrist watches, television sets, TV decorders, mobile phones, knapsack sprayers and sound systems.

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Multi TV available in 60 thousand homes

Multimedia’s free-to-air digital network Multi TV says it has sold almost 60 thousand satellite receivers over the four months since it was formally launched.

The figure also means that more than 60 thousand homes in Ghana now get to watch Multi TV channels.

Officials say the sales figure, though impressive, is still below the one million target it is hoping to hit by the end of next year.

The Sales and Marketing Manager, Nutifafa Attah told Joy Business the past two weeks have seen a jump in sales because of an ongoing promotion.

He says more people are also beginning to discover the numerous interesting programmes the network has to offer.

Multi TV will now be targeting corporate institutions to purchase boxes on behalf of their workers, officials have said.

The network offers more than 20 digital television and radio channels for free to subscribers. Subscribers would however need to make an initial one-time investment for the installation of the satellite receiver and dish.

That means, there will be no monthly charges as is the case with other digital television services.

Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

Ghana’s Economy Strong From Cocoa and Gold Exports

Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor on Friday said Ghana’s economy was able to withstand the impact of the global financial crisis, mainly due to the strong performance of cocoa and gold exports.

He made the observation at the inauguration of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Accra. The ultra-modern office is expected to improve the implementation of Financial Protocols between Ghana and Spain.
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Tema Oil Refinery Receives Nigerian Crude

Ghana News: Tema, Ghana’s only oil refinery, received its first shipment of crude oil in 10 months on Sunday and is due to begin processing at the weekend, the worker’s union said.

“The first consignment has come — it’s 950,000 barrels from Nigeria — it came around 5 pm yesterday,” Albert Pinto, chairman of the workers union told Reuters on Monday.

Pinto said that Tema’s employees were carrying out tests on the crude ahead of the weekend’s planned restart.

The Tema plant has a capacity to process of 45,000 barrels per day but a huge debt burden had prevented it from buying crude since last December. Its operations slowed to a near standstill in February.
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$500 Million For Accra Water Supply

Government is working with a consortium of Chinese investors on a $500-million deal, to solve the Accra water supply deficit, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo has announced.

Interacting with journalists in Sunyani at the weekend, Mr Abongo said the funding would help government to overcome the perennial water problems in the nation’s capital. The current water supply is estimated at 80 million gallons per day for both domestic and industrial use, which is half of the quantity needed. Mr Abongo said the national urban water shortfall stood at about 45 per cent.

He said the deal, which may take three to four years for completion would lead to the construction of Kpong Headworks to provide extra 40 million gallons a day. He said government was determined to see the completion of the on-going desalination plant, which would provide about four million gallons a day for residents of Teshie and Nungua, who are currently faced with crippling water shortages.

Mr Abongo said government was also pursuing the option of attracting investors to roll out other peri-urban and urban centres water treatment facilities. To ensure the sustainability of these projects, he said his ministry would keep Ghana Water Company Limited on its toes to ensure that managerial mistakes are checked.

Mr Abongo said the vision of the Mills administration was to rapidly increase water supply by improving existing capacity and overcoming the serious delivery challenges.

He said government was also determined to ensure that portable water was provided to all underserved rural communities within the next five years, in line with the attainment of the rural water segment of the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Abongo said it was in this regard that government voted 30 million cedis for the provision of 1, 100 boreholes for rural communities during this fiscal year as a complement to the several others being provided by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency.

Touching on housing, he said his Ministry had created land banks and developed a framework under which public-private partnership projects would be rolled out to meet the estimated 500, 000 national housing arrears.

He said one of such collaboration had led to the contracting of Ago Resources, a housing firm to construct affordable houses on government plots near Amansaman in Accra. 19 Oct. 09

Source: GNA

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