Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be relocated

President John Agyekum Kufuor has directed the relocation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the International Students Hostel at the airport residential area, as its present location opens it to noise and a generally poor environment.

The relocation is to be completed by the end of the government's current mandate, Foreign Affairs Minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman said.

The President gave the directive after considering the traffic situation in the ministries and the problems generated with a growing nearby market at the Tema station.

Mr. Owusu-Agyeman MP said they had problems finding money to buy land in Accra. "Since we had no money and the International Students Hostel is one of our sections, we decided it was the best place and when the President was approached he gave his blessing to it."

The Minister did not say what would happen to the hostel. He also did not state how much a new building would cost, but experts and valuers say a modern building befitting the status of Ghana in the international community with modern facilities would run into billions of cedis.

"The hostel might be scrapped altogether or another place would be found for the purpose," a source at the Ministry told the GNA.

The Ministry started using the current building in 1983 after the then government found the Castle Annex behind the Accra Sports Stadium unsuitable.