Telephone services to be improved in Kumasi
Metropolis
Inspection of Owabi dam to be undertaken
Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2003 - The Ghana Water Company
Limited has commissioned a diving services company to undertake inspection of
the Owabi Dam's general condition for a specialists engineering consultant to
be engaged to study and recommend any interventions needed.
While the routine inspections and maintenance on the Dam are
going on all efforts are being made to ensure the safety of the Dam to avert
its imminent collapse.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Minister of Works and Housing, said this in Parliament on Tuesday when Kwame Osei-Prempeh, NPP- Nsuta Kwamang on behalf of James Adusei-Sarkodie, NPP-Atwima-Nwabiagya, asked two questions concerning the Owabi Dam in the Ashanti Region.
The Member asked whether the Minister was aware of the imminent collapse of the
Owabi Dam and what plans he had to save it and also what plans the Ministry had
to rehabilitate the living quarters at the Owabi Head Works. Alhaji Idris said
the Owabi Dam had been the main reservoir for the supply of potable water to
the residents of Kumasi and was built in 1928 and had been properly maintained
up to date while periodic inspections were carried out yearly on the Dam.
He said in accordance with accepted engineering practice, the Dam had in fact
outlived its useful life and was beginning to show signs of leakages and there
had also been daily routine inspections and the recording of the water level.
Alhaji Idris said the renovation of the Ghana Water Company
Limited staff quarters at the Owabi Headwork's had been budgeted for under its
annual operations and maintenance budget. He said due to the high expenditure
involved, the rehabilitation of some of the quarters and filter house to be undertaken
in phases was started two years ago. The Motion for the Criminal Code
(Amendment) Bill was passed after its third reading.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2003 - The chiefs and people
of Owabi have agreed to fund the cost of relocating themselves at a site they
have chosen which is close to their present location belonging to the Apagya
Stool. The resettling had become necessary because the people of Owabi face the
danger of being swept away should the Owabi Dam collapse.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Minister of Works and Housing,
said this on Tuesday in Parliament in an answer to a question as to whether the
Ministry was considering resettling the people of Owabi.
He said earlier efforts at resettling the people of Owabi
suffered setbacks because all the previous sites chosen fell within the
catchment area of the dam, which had been designated as a wildlife sanctuary.
Alhaji Idris said the chiefs and people agreed to fund the cost of their relocation
only after they were provided with land near Awasum (Mpamprom).
The Minister said the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) had
commissioned a diving services company, Messrs Aquatec Diving Services, to
undertake an urgent inspection of the dam and to submit a report on the extent
of siltation to GWCL for action to be taken.
He said in furtherance to this, daily readings of the Water
level were recorded and any excess water was released to prevent flooding. The
Owabi Dam situated at Owabi in the Atwima District of the Ashanti Region was
constructed in 1928,and provides raw water for supply of potable water to the
residents of Kumasi West.
The capacity of the treatment plant later became inadequate
for the whole of Kumasi and the Barekese Dam was constructed as additional
source of water. The House also on Tuesday passed the Criminal Code (Amendment)
Bill, which is to amend the Criminal Code 1960, Act 29 to enable the offence of
robbery to be tried either on indictment or summarily.
Robbery, under Section 149 of the Criminal Code 1960, Act
29,is a first-degree felony and attracts a penalty of life imprisonment or any
lesser term. As a crime that could be punished by life imprisonment, the
trial must be on indictment by a judge and jury as stipulated in Article
19(2)(a) of the Constitution.
However, the general public has, in recent times, expressed
dissatisfaction with the indictment processes in view of the inordinate delay
it causes to the trial of robbery cases. Considering the traumatic effect on
victims of robbery, the victims naturally desired to see their tormentors dealt
with expeditiously by the justice system.
The Bill is therefore an expression of Government's
sensitivity to the complaints of the public, the Attorney - General Papa Owusu
Ankomah said when he presented the Bill to Parliament.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2003 - The expansion of the
Weija Water Works would be extended to cover Accra East with the laying of
additional pipelines for supply and provision of potable water to communities
in the Ningo Prampram area.
Additionally the long-term solution to the problem is for
the rehabilitation and expansion of the Kpong Old Water Works treatment plants
that serves the Ningo Prampram area while the upcoming Accra Rural Water Supply
Project would address the problem.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Minister of Works and Housing,
said this on Tuesday in Parliament when Enoch Teye Mensah, NDC-Ningo Prampram
asked what plans the Ministry had to address the water problem in the towns and
villages in the area.
He said a contract for the rehabilitation and improvement
had been signed with Messrs Tahal Consulting Engineers of Israel and following
a value for Money audit, the contractor had prepared an addendum to the
contract that was being reviewed for signature by government and the
contractor.
Alhaji Idris said the loan agreement for the project was to
be laid before Parliament soon. He said Prampram Township received water but
its communities nearby and beyond had water problems due to low pressure,
frequent power interruptions from Kpong that affected production while the
present increase in water demand had also affected the supply to the villages.
Mensah also asked the Minister whether he was aware that
over 500 villages were not being served with pipe-borne water, the Minister
said the problem was of great concern to government that was why plans were
being put in place to supply water from the Weija Water Works.
As to whether the Minister was aware that farmers interfered
with the flow of water through the pipelines in the area, Alhaji Idris said the
Ghana Water Company had been mandated to monitor and inspect the pipelines
while due to the activities at the Free Zone, near Tema some rationing of water
was on-going.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2003 - Albert Kan-Dapaah,
Minister of Communications, on Tuesday said a programme had been launched to
increase the switching capacity to address telephone services in Kumasi.
The project comprises expansion of the Kumasi Alcatel from
5,000 lines to 40,000 lines, installation of a new Alcatel switch in Tanoso,
the UST and Buokrom with 5,000 lines each.
Kan-Dapaah made this known in a statement he read in
Parliament on recent problems the Ghana Telecom was experiencing with its
telephone services in Kumasi and efforts being made to address them.
The Minister said when the projects were completed, the
switching capacity in the Kumasi area would increase by 50,000 new lines,
however, the Fetex switch which was being used currently was obsolete and would
be taken out of operation upon the completion of the new installation.
By the end of the month, the work to move all the
subscribers connected to the Fetex host switch to the new modules of the
Alcatel switch would start and the net capacity increase would, therefore be
35,000 new lines.
Kan-Dapaah said a large number of subscribers experience missing
dial tone no incoming calls during the day due to the overload of two
subscriber line modules in the Alcatel switch that causes problems during the
day and the overload of the Fetex switch that causes temporary absence of dial
tone for all the subscribers.
He said the short-term benefit of the programme would be the
normalisation of the telephone services in Kumasi and additionally the
increased switching capacity that would enable Ghana Telecom to take on new
subscribers. He said between 25,000 and 30,000 new subscribers in the Kumasi
area would be connected with new switches by end of this year.
Kan-Dapaah said the other problem was that the public often
experienced problems that sounded as noise, lack of connection and call drops
in the international traffic calling from and to
Ghana.
A lot of these calls are being terminated into the Ghana
Telecom Network using the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, even
though, the quality of service using the VoIP was not as good as that of the
technology of the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN).
Kan-Dapaah said the other problems were the frequency
interference in the PSTN where on some of the microwave links of Ghana Telecom,
frequency interference had been detected and the synchronisation where some
calls might be caused by slips because of the absence of correct timing in the
terrestrial digital network.
Congestion within the PSTN also causes switch interruptions
and, therefore, affects call quality. The Ministry of Communications was in
constant touch with Ghana Telecom to ensure that these and other problems in
the Telecom services are addressed and that corrective actions are speeded up.
Kan-Dapaah said the Ministry was also monitoring on-going
activities to resolve the problems and said the Ministry was determined to
ensure that quality service was restored and maintained at all times.
GRi…/
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