This policy was completed a few years ago and adopted into Ghana's poverty reduction strategy as a key framework for growth.
A press release issued in Washington D.C, on Tuesday, August 1, noted that Ghana was one of the first countries in Sub-Sahara Africa to undertake a programme of liberalisation in the telecommunications sector in the mid 1990s.
"Since then, significant improvements have occurred which have led to the growth of the ICT sector, particularly over the past five years. The result is an unprecedented explosion in overall telephone penetration, from 4.7 per cent in 2003 to 20 per cent in June 2006."
Most of this growth the release noted, is attributed to the mobile sector which has grown from zero to about four million within the past 10 years.
"What is most noteworthy in Ghana's ICT development efforts is that, although it has been predominantly private sector led, for years operators in the sector have been lamenting the lack of necessary support from government to harness these private and individual potentials for the growth of the sector," it said.
The release said that in this regard, the e-Ghana Project has been designed particularly to encourage private sector participation.
The ultimate objective of the project is to assist the government of Ghana to generate growth and employment by leveraging ICT and public-private partnerships to develop the Information Technologies-Enabled Services Industry, and to contribute to improved efficiency and transparency of selected government functions through e-government applications.
Given the leadership role of the private sector, and the critical know-how that it already possesses, the release said it envisages that government would tap this know-how by engaging the private sector very actively in project implementation.
The Project is expected to be implemented over five years, with the Ministry of Communications serving as the implementing ministry.
In the end the project is expected to increase ICT-based jobs by 200 per cent with equal opportunities for women, an increase in export-led revenue and an increase by 25 per cent satisfaction of users.
The World Bank comprises the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, Multilateral Investments Guarantee and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Quelle/Source: African News Dimension, 20.08.2006
