| News Home (Main Page) |  | | LATEST WORLD NEWS | | | | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2009 | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2008 | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2007 | | PHOTO REPORTS | | VIDEO REPORTS | | ARTS in GHANA | | Food & Drinks in Ghana |  | | Africa Cup 2008 | | Ghana Hotels | | Links / Websites | | Ghana Districts | | Ghana Tourism | | Ghana Adinkra | Names in Ghana | | | | Thursday, 13.05. 2010 | Gov't alone cannot build and fix roads-Quaye Kuma * Source: GNA | Bolgatanga (UE), May 13, GNA - The Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Dr. Nii Oakley Quaye-Kumah, has observed that Government alone can not maintain the road network of about 67,000 kilometres in the country. The burden of road maintenance should be seen to be a shared responsibility between the Government who constructs the road and the road user.
Dr Kwei-Kumah who was addressing a public forum on Road Fund held in Bolgatanga, Upper East on Thursday, said currently, the Fund could only sustain about 60 per cent of the maintenance of road network in the country. He said Government was studying some recommendations made by the Ministry to make the Fund more responsive to road maintenance needs. According to the Deputy Minister, Government was exploring other financial methods as a long term pre-financing strategy to carry out road maintenance.
He entreated road users to pay their levies promptly into the Fund to enable the Fund bring about proper maintenance of the road system. Mr. Dawuda Hakeem, the Vice Chairman of the Association of Road Contractors in the Upper East Region, revealed that in 2007 there were nine road projects that were advertised in the Upper Region but could not be awarded and said this could be one of the factors that had caused the deplorable nature of some of the roads in the Region.
He pointed out that whilst other Regions benefited from the package of such contracts at that time, the Upper East Region never benefited due to selfish and irresponsible behaviour of some officials.
Answering the question why the contracts were not awarded, the Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Highways Authority, Mr. David Hammond said the incident happened during the time of his predecessor but information was that during the tender process it was noticed that the tender box was broken and that was why the contracts were not awarded. Professor Mahama Salifu, a member of the Ghana Road Fund Board, suggested the need for Government to increase the fuel levy so as to increase the Road Fund.
He explained that despite the recent increase of the road tolls and fees, the revenue was insignificant comparatively to the demands of the maintenance and rehabilitation of roads in the country. | | . | | . | | . | | . | | . | | ______________________ |
| 
| Latest Ghana News Thursday, 13th May 2010 WEEK 19 - 2010 | * Thursday, 13th May 2010 | Four people burnt to death in an accident * Source: GNA | | Nkawanda No. 2 (E/R), May 13, GNA - Four persons were burnt to death when an articulator truck and a cargo truck collided and later caught fire at the outskirt of Nkawanda No 2 near Nkawkaw on Thursday. It took Fire Service personnel from Nkawkaw, Koforidua and Konongo over two hours to put off the fire.
Briefing Ghana News Agency on the tragedy, Chief Inspector Kwame Osei-Bonsu at the Nkawkaw Divisional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), said around 0530 hours, he received a telephone call that two vehicles had collided and blocked the main Accra-Kumasi road at Nkawanda No 2. He said when the Police arrived at the scene, they realized that the cargo truck with registration No. GT 370 Z moving from Accra with lorry tyres, brake fluid, car batteries and other lubricants had collided with an articulator truck with registration number GE 8408 X from the opposite direction of the road and caught fire.
Chief Insp Osei-Bonsu said that the Police solicited assistance from Koforidua and Konongo fire stations to put off the fire. He said the driver of the Cargo truck was burnt beyond recognition while three other persons in the articulator truck including its driver were also burnt to death.
Chief Insp Osei-Bonsu said the charred bodies had been deposited at the Kwahu Government Hospital at Atibie for autopsy. He complained that the hospital authorities delayed in collecting the bodies from the Police. | > BACK to TOP < | As Jubilee Field Readies to Deliver First Oil… * Source: Business Analyst | WHO OWNS WHAT
By J. Ato Kobbie, Managing Editor
The Jubilee Field is the name given the oil field of Ghana, where first commercial oil is expected in the last quarter of this year. The Jubilee Field Unit is situated in Deepwater Tano (DT) and West Cape Three Points (WCTP) blocks, approximately 60km offshore Ghana and 130km west southwest of the port city of Takoradi.
The field area, currently under development, straddles the two blocks - WCTP and DT - where successive commercial oil discoveries were made in Mahogany-1 and Hyedua-1 exploration wells during Ghana’s Golden Jubilee Anniversary year in 2007.
After the oil discoveries, the two blocks, which were close to each other, were unitized or consolidated to ensure efficient and cost effective production of the oil from the two fields. Several other successful wells following the first two have increased the reserve estimate.
Oil reserves in the Jubilee Field are estimated to be between 800 million and 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil of the highest grade. Initial production expected from the field under the first phase is 120,000 barrels a day.
The interest holdings of the Jubilee Partners were consolidated, assuming 50% for Deepwater Tano block and 50% for the West Cape Three Points block.
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) exercised its option of taking additional paying interest of five percent (5%) in Deepwater Tano and two-and-a-half percent (2.5%) in the West Cape Three Points blocks.
The unitized area, Jubilee Field, has Tullow Oil as Operator, with the highest stake of 34.7046%, whilst Kosmos Energy, the Technical Operator (to lead in exploration issues), just as Anadarko, each hold 23.4913%. GNPC holds 13.7500%, whilst Sabre Oil and Gas and the E.O. Group, hold 2.8127% and 1.7500% respectively.
The interest holdings of the partners determine how much contribution they make in terms of meeting the current costs of development of the field before and during production.
In the same manner, the stakes of the partners determine what profit they would eventually be reaping from the oil.
Before the unitization, Tullow Oil operated the Deepwater Tano block, where it held 49.95% interest, with Kosmos and Anadarko holding 18% interest each. Sabre Oil & Gas held 4.05%, whilst GNPC had a 10% carried interest. However, GNPC exercised its option of taking up additional paying interest following a discovery, and increased its stake to 15%.
On the other hand, Kosmos Energy was the Operator of the WCTP block, in which it held 30.875% interest, just like Anadarko Petroleum, while Tullow Oil held 22.896% interest. The other partners in that field were the EO Group, which held 3.5%, Sabre Oil & Gas, 1.854% and GNPC having a carried interest of 10%. Here again, GNPC took up additional interest of 2.5%, to increase its stake to 12.5%.
Development of the Jubilee Field is on schedule and the floating, production, storage and offloading vessel, which would facilitate production, was commissioned on May Day this year, by Ghana’s First Lady Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills.
FPSO Kwame Nkrumah has a production and processing capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil and 160 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day, with storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of oil. | > BACK to TOP < | Five doctors, seven housemen ready to work in Upper East * Source: GNA | Bolgatanga, (UE), May 13, GNA - Seven doctors have accepted to work in the Upper East region after completion of their housemanship in the area and five qualified ones have applied to work there. Dr. Koku Awoonor-Williams, the Regional Director of Health Service, who announced this at a reception, organised for the housemen in at Bolgatanga, said that this would help mitigate the problem of the low patient-doctor ratio of 1:43,000 in the region.
He said that even though the Government of Cuba had over the years sent doctors to the region, the doctor-patient ratio kept on widening partly due to population explosion.
Dr. Awoonor-Williams said that the construction of four bungalows for doctors in the region had started. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo, commended the housemen and qualified doctors for accepting to practice in the region. He said district hospitals would be built in the region to improve health delivery and indicated that five medical students, who were being sponsored, would work in the region after completing their training. | > BACK to TOP < | Gyan Baffour Declares: ‘Wenchi And I Are For Akufu-Addo * Source: Daily Graphic | Thursday, May 13:- The Member of Parliament for Wenchi, Prof. Gyan Baffour, has joined the growing number of New Patriotic Party members, high or low, who are coming out boldly to throw their weight behind Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential bid.
This follows similar endorsements for Nana Akufo-Addo from other NPP MPs in the Brong Ahafo Region, all of whom attributed their endorsement of Nana’s candidacy to be a reflection of what their constituents were telling them on the ground.
As Nana Akufo-Addo moves from constituency to constituency he is met with endorsements from opinion leaders and electrifying support from the grassroots.
So far, after three days in the Region, the Tano South MP, Andrews Adjei-Yeboah, Berekum MP, Kwaku Agyenim Boateng, Kwasi Ameyaw-Kyeremeh of Sunyani, Kwaku Agyemang Manu of Dormaa West, Yaw Maama Afful of Jaman South and Prof. Ameyaw Ekumfi of Techiman North, have all publicly endorsed Nana Akufo-Addo.
In a short but penetrating address Thursday, the former Deputy Minister of Finance told Wenchi delegates, “You know where I stand in this contest. I am for Nana Akufo-Addo. I believe Nana Akufo-Addo is the one who can lead our party to victory in 2012.”
Pro.f Baffour continued, “I plead with you to vote massively for him on August 7.”
The economist, who was instrumental in drafting Ghana’s poverty reduction strategy lamented, “Ghanaians are suffering. Here in Wenchi life is tough. But, you’re not alone. It is no different elsewhere in the country.”
He described Nana Akufo-Addo as a patriot who had devoted his life to freeing the ordinary Ghanaian for development. He can therefore be trusted to bring back hope and deliver the people from poverty and illiteracy after 2012.
He said he was confident that the NPP membership will not allow the temporary competition of choosing a flagbearer to disturb the party’s long-term cohesion and unity of purpose.
Prof. Baffour’s endorsement follows similar ones from other parliamentarians during the Brong Ahafo leg of Nana’s campaign to be the NPP’s 2012 presidential candidate.
Earlier the Member of Parliament for Okere, Dan Kweku Botwe also told delegates Party to vote massively for Nana Akufo-Addo and give him a resounding victory in the August contest, for the party to get down to the actual business of reclaiming power in 2012.
“I am looking beyond August 7 because I am confident that delegates of the NPP will vote massively to retain Nana Akufo-Addo as flagbearer of the party. The real battle lies ahead of us in 2012 and I will plead that after Nana Akufo-Addo is elected as flagbearer. We will all stand firmly and united behind him to ensure that the party wins the 2012 general elections.”
Nana Akufo-Addo’s party represented the party in the 2012 presidential election, losing out to Prof. Mills by less than 0.5% of the votes cast.
Mr Botwe, a renowned political strategist, was speaking at the forecourt of the National House of Chiefs, Bechem, in the Tano South constituency where Nana Akufo-Addo started his tour of the Brong-Ahafo region.
Nana Akufo-Addo ends his BA tour this Saturday and will begin with the Ashanti leg of his national campaign on Sunday.
| > BACK to TOP < | Mawuli School celebrates 60th Anniversary in November * Source: GNA | Ho, May 13, GNA - Mawuli School, in Ho is to celebrate its 60th Anniversary in November, the Rev Frank Kwame
Anku, Board Chairman of the School, said this at a meeting with old students of the School in Ho on Wednesday. The celebration would be on the theme; "Mawuli School: Living the dream of the founding fathers in human
capital development." He said the formal launch of the Anniversary would be done in Accra on May 20 under the Chairmanship of
Krachiwura Nana Besemuna III, an old student. The Rev. Anku said there would be two public lectures in July. A grand durbar would take place on November 13 at the School with a thanksgiving service on November 14. | > BACK to TOP < |
_____________________________________________________ ----- | | | Thursday, 13th May 2010 | Four people burnt to death in an accident As Jubilee Field Readies to Deliver First Oil… Five doctors, seven housemen ready to work in Upper East Gyan Baffour Declares: ‘Wenchi And I Are For Akufu-Addo Mawuli School celebrates 60th Anniversary in November Parliament set to approve $1.5 billion line of credit for STX Korea People of Upper East Region want better roads Gov't alone cannot build and fix roads-Quaye Kuma | Your Opinions | Have Your Say!
| Archived News for 2010 | Go to 12.05.2010 | News Page was last modified on Friday, 14 May 2010 09:40:40 | 
| All about the Ghana Election 2008 | | | | * Thursday, 13th May 2010 | Parliament set to approve $1.5 billion line of credit for STX Korea * Source: Quaye, Akworkor | The parliament of Ghana is set to approve a $1.5 billion line of credit for STX of Korea for the construction of 30,000 housing units. Parliament will also approve duty free access to every equipment and materials the Koreans bring into the country. Furthermore, the State will provide free and secured land in all the regional capitals for the Korean group.
This deal is quite surprising as it comes in the wake of serious credit crisis affecting the Ghanaian real estate industry. How could President Mills do this to foreigners when their Ghanaian real estate firms are so cash-strapped? Politicians are greedy. How could they be so cruel? With all the facilities being provided, the Koreans should be able to construct 4 times as many buildings, ie. 120,000, and not 30,000. If local firms are given this opportunity, they will produce much more houses.
When the STX Korean deal first came up in December 2009, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing explained that the Koreans were to invest $10 billion. Now we know that Ghana is to invest in the Korean company, which is said to be in debt.
This contract is seriously flawed and Parliament must reject it. Unfortunately, it appears some members of parliament are in league with Govt. Some of the honorable members Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Akoto Osei, etc were in Seoul last February and feted by STX. I hope they will stand up and reject this agreement which was nearly approved last week.
The Government is giving the excuse that the President of Korea is coming to Ghana next month so the deal must be accelerated. The Ghana parliament must do the right thing. Akworkor Quaye | People of Upper East Region want better roads * Source: GNA | Bolgatanga, May 13, GNA - Mrs. Lucy Awuni, Upper East Deputy Regional Minister has made a distress call for the rehabilitation of the Region's deplorable roads.
The deplorable condition of most roads in the region made travelling difficult and that was a source worry to the chiefs and people of the area. The Deputy Regional Minister who made the call at a Road Fund forum held in Bolgatanga noted that: "Portholes are left unattended to for an unacceptable length of time and during the rainy season washouts occur quite frequently rendering some of our roads impassable".
She said the condition had affected Agricultural production as the crating of foodstuffs from food producing areas to the Market centres in the Region and beyond are difficult resulting in massive post harvest losses. According to her, any poverty reduction strategy in the Region would require the availability of good feeder roads to feed highways in the movement of goods and services throughout the Region.
Mrs. Awuni noted that in view of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Region, there was the need for the Ministry of Roads and Highways to expedite action on the resurfacing of streets and roads in the Bolgatanga Municipality to give it a facelift. She said the Regional capital street lighting project was currently ongoing and without good roads, the intended purpose of beautifying the city would be defeated.
The Minister however said whilst Government was making efforts to solicit donor funding for development of the road sector, there was the urgent need to support the Ghana Road Fund by paying tolls to generate enough funding to ensure regular maintenance of the roads. She entreated engineers to monitor the ongoing road projects in the Region to ensure that there were properly executed. Participants at the Road Fund forum expressed similar sentiments on the deplorable nature of the road network in the Region and called for immediate redress.
They stated that Government has been investing so much in the road sector nationwide and wondered why the Upper East Region was not getting its fair share of good roads.
Participants suggested that contracts should be awarded to only qualified persons who have the equipment and expertise to execute projects effectively.
The Vice Chairman of the Association of Road Contractors in Upper East Region, Mr. Dawuda Hakeem, suggested that 25 per cent of insurance premiums collected by Insurance Companies on vehicles should be paid into the Road Fund for the maintenance of roads. | | . | | . | | . |
|
|