Govt reacts report on failure of golden age of business

Government says it does not totally agree with a publication in Britain?s Financial Times News paper which suggests that the president?s proclamation of the Golden Age of Business has failed to materialize as rapidly as many had hoped.

Private sector Development and PSI Minister Kwamena Bartels says the president?s declaration is a process that will take a while to yield the needed results.

He told Joy News that since the president made the declaration some notable successes have been chalked in certain areas.

? In the just released 2004 cost of doing business report of the World Bank, the rover development report ranked Ghana 82 out of the 115 countries as a good place for doing business compared to a ranking of 86 in 2005.

We are improving, we would have loved to be number one, but we are not number one, we are 82 out of 115 but what it shows is that there is an improvement in the business environment for the business sector.

The quantum of power being produced as supposed to demand where we have a shortfall and that shortfall was filled when VALCO closed down and what was being given to VALCO was diverted into the general pool we have a problem there.

Now VALCO is coming back but fortunately we are looking at the West African Gas Pipleline Project coming on stream in December 2006 so that the Aboadze thermal plant together with the Tema Thermal plant would all be streamed to fill the gap between demand and what is being supplied,? he said.