Accra, Dec.21 - Parliament has
passed the Framework Agreement between the Government of Ghana and the
Government of the Republic of Mauritius for the development of technology and
business parks in Ghana.
The Framework Agreement has, as
part of its terms, the establishment of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to
develop, implement and manage technology and business parks in Ghana.
The SPV which is to be known as
the Tema Technology Park Limited shall be incorporated as a limited liability
company under the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179) of Ghana.
The terms of the agreement also
enjoined Ghana and Mauritius and any of their agencies to enter into a
shareholders’ agreement to govern their relationship as shareholders of the
SPV.
Mr Ken Ohene Agyapong, Chairman
of the Committee on Communications, who moved the Committee’s report for the
House to approve, noted that the project which would be established as a Public
Private Partnership (PPP) between Ghana and Mauritius would facilitate the
transfer of technology from the latter to the former through Research and
Development (R&D) activities.
He said R&D activities would
foster greater interaction among industry, academia, educational and training
institutions and the business and finance sectors.
He said the project would assist
a great deal in building the capacity of export oriented and small and medium
scale ICT businesses and position them to maximise their potential for growth,
job creation and revenue generation.
Mr Agyapong also explained that
the government of Ghana was requires to provide among others the initial land
for phase one of the project and lease additional plots to the SPV for the
development of subsequent phases of the project.
He said Ghana was to provide all
such infrastructure required by the SPV during the operational phase (including
all offsite services and access to the sites, power, water supply and
telecommunication facilities).
While, the Government of
Mauritius was responsible for designing and preparing the master plan of the
project in consultation with the Government of Ghana, for the implementation.
He said the Government of
Mauritius was also required to invest an amount of $75 million in the project
and ensure that funds were available for the project at all times.
Mr Daniel Ashiamah, Member of
Parliament (MP) for Buem in his contribution praised the idea of the technology
park, saying it was a very good project, which would lead to technological
transfer and job creation.
He said the government’s
responsibilities to the project, which made up its 40 percent share in terms of
electricity, water, roads leading to the place should be performed well.
He stressed the need for the
government to develop local content policy for the project for the people in
the area to benefit from the venture.
Mr Samuel Nartey George, MP for
Ningo/Prampram in his contribution, noted that the Framework Agreement that
would to lead to the establishment of the Ghana Smart City in Dawa in the
Ningo/Prampram constituency was a build-up on the Tema Industrial Park in the
Ghana Free Zones area.
He commended the Ministry of
Communication for the project and urged it to ensure that Ghana becomes the ICT
hub for the West African sub-region.
He appealed to the Ministry of
Finance to support the Ministry of Communication in the execution of the
project by way of exemptions of duties for the equipment that would be brought
in for the project.
Mr Sam George also stated that
the Committee recommended to the Ministry that they should consider the
shareholding structure again, since there has been some increase in the land
acreage that the Government of Ghana was supposed to put in as its initial
share of equity, which was from 6.1 to 20 hectares of land.
He appealed to the government to
pay compensation to the land owners whose land would be taken over for the
project.
GNA
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