GHANAIAN TIMES

The Times lead story on the front page is also about the two-day National Economic Forum which opened yesterday. Under the heading: "Nation discusses economy", the Times says the forum is to provide a platform for a continuing national dialogue on critical issues facing the nation's economy, and also to provide a common understanding of policy measures and actions for accelerated economic growth. The paper says President Rawlings who opened the Forum, identified a number of difficulties facing the economy and enumerated measures already under way and new proposals to resolve those socio- economic problems. The Times says President Rawlings mentioned some of the problems as inflation, depreciation of the cedi, high interest rate, low savings, insufficient agricultural growth, inadequate investment and industrial growth, as well as unemployment. GRI

"Parliament begins work on Utilities Bill", is the headline of another front page story in the Times which says less than half of the 0 members were at the first sitting of the emergency meeting of Parliament yesterday to discuss the Public Utilities Regulatory Commssion Bill. The bill which seeks to establish a commission to oversee and regulate the provision of public utility services and the fixing of rates, is expected to be passed into law within two weeks. The bill was then referred to the joint committees of Mines and Energy and Works and Housing for study and report to the House. The Times says the establishment of the Commission became necessary after the tariff hikes by the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), resulting in a public outcry. To stem the tide, President Rawlings suspended the tariffs and proposed a bill setting up the Commission to handle the issue. The Times says the Commission, whose work would be limited to electricity and water, would be made up of nine members appointed by the President in consultation with the Council of State. GRI

The Times reports about a fatal motor accident on the Accra-Tema motorway in which three persons died. The story with the headline: "Three die in Motorway accident", says three persons died on the spot and 17 others sustained various degrees of injuries when a 23-seater Mercedes Benz bus was involved in an accident on the Accra-Tema Motorway yesterday. The dead which included the driver of the vehicle, are yet to be identified. The Times says five of the injured were in critical conditions at the Tema General Hospital. According to the Times, Police Inspector Festus Guh of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) at Ashaiman said the vehicle GT 3310 N, was travelling from Kaneshie to Tema fishing harbour when the rear right tyre burst, somersaulted and landed with the tyres upwards. GRI