A Rural Technology Service Centre has been established at Ashanti Mampong in the Ashanti Region under the Rural Enterprises Project to cater for the services not being provided at the Suame Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit in Kumasi. The Centre funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has a rural orientation that is filling the gap in the Ashanti Region.
Prof. Kassim Kasanga, Minister of Environment and Science said this on yesterday in Parliament when Nana Asante Frempong, NPP- Kwabre asked why there was no Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU) Centre in the Ashanti Region that had the single largest concentration of mechanics in the country.
The Minister said it was Government's policy that ITTU Centres should be set up in every region to accelerate the pace of industrialization. The Technology Consultancy Centre of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology established the first ITTU in the Ashanti Region in the heart of the Suame Industrial Estate, Kumasi.
Prof. Kasanga said following the establishment of the Unit in Ashanti Region, the GRATIS Foundation set up nine others in the other Regions modeled after the Ashanti one with assistance of the Canadian Development Agency (CIDA) and the European Union.
He said while the Technology Consultancy Centre was managing the Suame ITTU the other nine ITTU's were being managed by the GRATIS foundation as Regional Technology Transfer Centres and for this reason the Suame ITTU did not feature in the activities and reports of the GRATIS Foundation.
