THE Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has secured a $1.2 million from the government of China to finance the installation of street lights at Cantonments in Accra.
In that light, officials of Huawei Technologies Ghana, a leading Information Technology (IT) company, have signed an implementation contract agreement with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) for the commencement of the project.
The project would see the installation of 275 solar-powered lights and 80 watts lamps at Cantonments and its catchment areas.
The Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Okoh Vanderpuije, initialed on behalf of the AMA, while the Deputy Managing Director of Huawei signed for his organisation.
The project, which is set to take off at the end of October, according to the Counsellor at the Economic and Commercial Office at the Chinese Embassy, Mr Gao Wenzhi, formed part of the Chinese Government’s new energy project aimed at helping Africa improve its overall capability in terms of development
Mr Wenzhi said the Chinese Government had outlined three priority areas: agriculture, manufacturing industries and infrastructure development, to enable Africa catch up with development.
“The Chinese Government is determined to continue with human resource development programmes to aid Africa catch up with development, while promoting regional integration”, he said, adding that over 1,800 Chinese Government scholarships had been offered to train 30,000 Africans in the three priority areas.
He also announced China’s commitment to help build more agricultural demonstration centres to aid Africa to enhance the production, processing, storage and distribution of agricultural products.
He expressed optimism that the project, the first in the West African sub-region, would serve as a model to further encourage enough investment in that aspect.
The Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Power, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, who witnessed the signing of the agreement, lauded the Chinese Government for extending its assistance to Ghana and said the Chinese assistance was important to the sustenance of power in the country.
“This project will not only provide illumination for Cantonments, but will also reduce significantly, the incidence of robberies in parts of Accra, ” he added.
Alhaji Fuseini also announced that the China Water and Electric Company (CWEC) had also initiated a process to implement a $180 million contract to connect remote communities in the Brong Ahafo and northern regions to the national electricity grid.
He expressed the hope that the Chinese Government’s selection of Ghana to demonstrate its new energy programme in Africa would further deepen the cooperation between the two countries.
Mr Vanderpuije, for his part, said the AMA had so far financed the construction of over 3,000 streetlights in its quest to eliminate dark spots in the metropolis.
No comments:
Post a Comment