President Kufuor inspects work on ICT Centre

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday inspected progress of work on the Ghana-India sponsored Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Accra.

The one-storeyed Centre would have six classrooms and lecture halls, Corporate and Executive Training room, an auditorium, snack bar and an administrative block.

He was briefed on the extent of work, which began on November 1, this year by Mr Mladen Simonovic, Managing Director of EPGHANA Limited Contractors on the project while Mr Samuel Okpata, Consultants and Architects explained the details of the drawings to President Kufuor. President Kufuor who was impressed about the extent of work done urged the contractors to ensure that they completed the project on schedule. Work on the project is expected to be completed on March 1, next year.

Mr Felix Owusu Agyapong, Minister of Communications and Technology who accompanied President Kufuor briefing newsmen, said the government has provided two million dollars for the structure while the Indian government would provide training and equipment valued at about two million dollars.

He said 12 Ghanaians had already been sent to India for training to man the Centre, which would be run on cost recovery system to maintain the standard and also serve the entire West African Sub-Region Mr Agyapong said during President Kufuor's State visit to India in August this year, Ghana and India agreed to establish an advanced Information Technology Institute to be named after Mr Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General in Accra.

He said a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), was signed to that effect in New Delhi, between him and Mr Pramod Mahdjan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of India. Under the agreement, India would provide the latest state of the art accessories, computer hardware such as servers, desktops, printers and scanners.

Others were software and communication equipment such as routers, switches and other equipment required to set up the Centre.

India would in addition train ICT trainers from Ghana, help in the design of the curriculum for teaching of ICT in both schools and colleges.

Ghana would provide land, building and supporting technical and administrative staff.