Government committed to the development of ICT parks

Accra, Dec. 2, GNA - Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Communications, on Thursday reiterated the government's support for the establishment of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) parks at selected places in the country to create jobs. He said the IT-enabled Services Directorate of the Ministry had been instructed to provide support services for the project and had also begun promoting Ghana's Technology Park in major international Technology Park forums.

"If Ghana is to make any progress in developing a high-tech export industry, a lot of effort will need to be directed at investing more into Research and Development activities," he added. Mr Iddrisu made this known at the Second Cape Coast ICT Park Stakeholders Forum, a platform that enabled IT experts to dialogue on financing such a facility.

The Minister said a technical team from the Smart Village of Egypt would be in the country this month to assist with the feasibility, development and marketing of the park as a modern technology centre for Research and Development that would deliver high-end ICT services to the Tourism and Services sectors as well as provide well-paying employment opportunities.

Mr Iddrisu said the government also aimed at making Ghana a Business Process Outsourcing destination where major ICT projects like making call-cards among other things could be done.

Explaining why Cape Coast was chosen as one of the centres the Minister said, he said the city was the educational hub of Ghana and therefore had a lot of human resource potential for the Park. Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, former Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization, said the project would adopt Public/Private people's partnerships to ensure that everyone became part of it.

He said while the government and international organizations did their part, it was important that private businessmen and the citizens of Cape Coast also contributed to make the project a success.

Mr Christian Bansah, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Coast ICT Park Company Limited, said the park would host state of the art facilities where people could easily access ICT services. He said the ICT Park could create about 2,000 jobs for the youth in Cape Coast and also had the potential of attracting large national and international companies to invest in the city.