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BY: Business Desk Report
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The Ministry of Finance has released about GH¢1.2 billion as part payment for COVID-19 relief covering the free electricity and water supplied to Ghanaians to help them comply with the safety protocols.
The free electricity and water are part of the many social interventions rolled out by government to cushion Ghanaians against the hardships imposed by COVID-19, such as the loss of income.
To ensure that many Ghanaians do not suffer disconnection because of their inability to settle their electricity bills in the midst of the pandemic, ECG has received at least GH¢1 billion as part payment for the free power it supplied to the public.
The Government of Ghana through the Economic Management Team, the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPPS), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communications, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Telecommunication Companies such as MTN, Vodafone and AirtelTigo, and a licensed Online Marketing Company and Digital Service provider known as KGL Technology Limited have done tremendously well to enhance the digitalization Programme of the Government.
Ghana has the baseline infrastructure such as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGs), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), POS Switches coupled with Mobile Money Interoperability, all aimed at achieving the digitalization of the Ghanaian economy.
The Physical Planning Developmental Department of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) has described as ‘illegal’ and ‘worrying’ a chain of structures springing up along the OLA-Elmina Highway beachfront.
The once beautiful stretch with organic coconut trees along the beachfront, is now a sory site to behold, as a number of the coconut trees have been felled to pave the way for the construction of concrete entertainment structures.
Mr Nicholas Pinkrah, Metropolitan Director of the Department, said the department had not given any permit to such new developers and warned of dire socio-economic and environmental consequences if due processes were not followed.
E/R: Galamsey, road projects affecting provision of potable water – GWCL LISTEN
JAN 26, 2021
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) says continuous activities of illegal miners and some road contractors undertaking various road projects in the Eastern Region is affecting their smooth operations in supplying potable water to communities.
Last week GWCL shut down the Kyebi treatment plant due to high turbidity as a result of activities of illegal miners operating along the Birim River.
According to the water company, these activities and that of road contractors who are destroying pipes of the water company as they work on roads in the region have become a major challenge for the company.
Residents of Aflao in the Ketu South Municipality have downplayed the three-month extension of government’s free water indicating the policy was of no use to them.
The aggrieved residents said they never benefitted from the relief package since its institution in April, last year, disclosing that water had stopped running through their taps for the past nine months.
The Government announced the absorption of water bills for all Ghanaians and provision of free electricity for lifeline consumers and 50 percent rebate for consumers beyond the lifeline threshold from April to the end of 2020 to cushion people from the economic effects of the pandemic.