Accra, June 14, GNA – Mr Prince Sefah, the Administrator of Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), has paid a three-day working visit to some selected Project Sites of the Fund in the Greater Accra and Central Regions.
The visit, with support from the technical team, formed part of efforts to strengthen project oversight and implementation.
It also allowed the Administrator to enhance relationships with some stakeholders of the Fund, especially Municipal/ District Chief Executives and Traditional Authorities.
A statement issued in Accra by the Fund said in all, Mr Sefah visited five out of the 30 newly constructed Community ICT Centres (CICs) in the two Regions.
In the Greater Accra Region, the Administrator inspected the newly constructed CIC at Dansoman in the Ablekuma West Municipality, which was now ready for commissioning.
In the Central Region, he met the Chiefs of Awutu Senya, in the company of the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Awutu Senya West, where he informed them of some GIFEC initiatives within the district, particularly the newly constructed CIC at Bawjiase and Senya Breku, and the ongoing Ghana Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project (GRT&DIP).
He expressed his commitment to ensuring that these projects (which he inspected), were completed and used for the benefit of the community by next month.
He gave the assurance plans were advanced towards adding on to the GRT&DIP in the Awutu enclave.
The Administrator said since its inception, GIFEC had provided innovative solutions to ensure Universal Access and Digital Inclusion in the remotest parts of the country and to all marginalised communities of Ghana.
This was done through three main ICT programme areas: Infrastructural Development, Equipment and Resource Provision and Capacity Building.
He also emphasized the importance of the Cyberlabs Programme, adding that the programme was aimed at improving access to ICT by providing equipment to schools, institutions, and communities.
“GIFEC has so far constructed 274 CICs and equipped about 1,000 schools with ICT equipment to enhance ICT access and digital inclusion, through the programme,” he said.
Mr Sefah said the Cyberlabs programme also served as a resource centre for many of GIFEC’s ICT Capacity Building programmes, which seek to train various classes of citizens in basic and intermediary ICT courses.
He also touched on the GRT&DIP, which ensures the facilitation and provision of telecommunications infrastructure to communities, which were considered unserved or underserved.
These are relatively small communities with low economic viability, hence the inability of Mobile Network Operators to extend their services.
The project, according to him, was being implemented with funding from the Government of Ghana, and partnership from Huawei Technologies and seeks to establish 2,016 Rural Sites to ensure 95 per cent mobile network coverage in Ghana.
He said that although slightly delayed by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the unprecedented project, since it commenced in 2020, had chalked some remarkable milestones in its implementation.
The project has so far been built in 780 communities with 501 integrated into the core network and 366 On-Air and delivering voice and data services to over 120,000 average daily subscribers across various Rural Communities.
Mr Sefah joined the Green Ghana Day Programme at Assin Kushea by planting some seedlings to contribute to the exercise.
He also engaged the media in the Assin North Municipality as part of his visit to apprise them of GIFEC’s interventions within the Assin area and the Central Region, in general.
GNA