Cenpower deal wins PFI power sector award

             
The financial transactions for the construction of a 340MW Independent Power Project in Ghana has been internationally recognised by the London based PFI Awards as Africa’s most outstanding power deal of 2014.

The PFI Awards Scheme is the financial industry component of the Global Thomson Reuters Awards for Excellence and has for close to a decade rewarded corporate and individual success in the financial industry on the basis of their demonstration of “outstanding performance and commitment.”

The 2014 PFI Roll of Honour listed 40 award winners, with eight awards in each of five geographical zones: Global, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Middle East / Africa.

For the Middle East / Africa zone, the 2014 PFI Award projects include Cenpower (African Power Deal of the Year); Lake Turkana (African Renewable Deal); Safi (North African Power Deal); Kirikkale (Power Deal); Tarnar (Bond Deal); Wa’ad Al Sharmal (Industry Deal); Star Rafinel (Refinery Deal) and Standard Bank (Bank of the Year).

The 2014 PFI Awards ceremony takes place on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at the Hilton, Park Lane, London, a repeat location for last year’s plush event.

For Cenpower Holdings Limited, the wholly Ghanaian-owned initiators of the award-winning project — Cenpower Generation — and the operating company, as well as other shareholders (including the Africa Finance Corporation, Mercury Power (AIIM ) South Africa, FMO of the Netherlands and SUMITOMO of Japan), the PFI recognition could not have been announced on a better period than the very week that the project achieved wet / liquid financial close.

Reacting to the news in Accra, Mr Sam Nana Brew-Butler, Chairman of Cenpower Generation, referred to the PFI Award as a “very gratifying recognition of the many years of commitment to the Cenpower project by numerous Ghanaian and foreign individuals, corporate entities and institutions.”

He particularly appreciated the efforts of governments of Ghana over the past years, RandMerchant Bank, Standard Bank and NED Bank, The Export Credit Insurance Company, DBSA and the IDC (all of South Africa) and the FMO led European DFIs, including EAIF, DEG-INVEST and OFID.

Group Five of South Africa has been issued with a notice to proceed and is scheduled to commence construction work on the 350 MW dual cycle power plant at the Tema Heavy Industrial Area in January 2015.

Education Ministry rolls out plan to transform polytechnics in Universities

                                

   Stakeholders in the education sector are set to meet early next month to discuss a draft bill on transforming polytechnics into technical universities.

According to the Deputy Education Minister for Tertiary Education, Okudzeto Ablakwa, there would be a stakeholder consultation on the draft bill on January 8, 2015 after which “we would have made substantial progress on the conversion of our polytechnics into technical universities.”

The bill, he added, “we will send it to parliament and that would see us have a new focus for our polytechnics as they become technical universities.”

The conversion of polytechnics into technical universities, the deputy minister said, is part of government’s plans for the education sector next year.

Mr. Ablakwa told Joy News the actual construction of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development in the Eastern region would also start next year.

“It is in 2015 that we expect that we will have begun construction of the university in the Eastern region so that all 10 regions in Ghana will have a public university,” he said.

Mr. Ablakwa added that the government is hoping that the bill for the University, which is now in parliament would be “passed into an act and we will be able to have the green light to commence actual construction.”

The Deputy Education Minister reiterated that the progressive free secondary education will start in 2015, assuring that the first 50 of 200 senior high schools promised would be completed.”

Work on 10 new colleges of education is also expected to start next year, he said.

William mcdowell

University of Ghana launches Strategic Plan

DThe University of Ghana has launched a Strategic Plan with a focus on research as one of the key priorities to the institution’s transformation process and ultimately strengthening its impact and visibility internationally.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said the new strategic plan, which spans 2014 to 2024, was intended to consolidate the gains made from the review of the university’s Mission and Practices and situate these within the context of a very dynamic environment of higher education in Ghana and beyond.

The vision, he said, was to become a “world class research-intensive university” over the next decade, and to achieve this, the management would create an enabling environment that made the University of Ghana (UG) increasingly relevant to national and global development through cutting-edge research as well as high quality teaching and learning.

He said in the nine priority pillars under the Plan, the university would create a vibrant climate that stimulates relevant cutting edge research and community engagement, promote academic excellence using the highest international standards of teaching, learning and leadership development and provide an environment that would ensure fulfilling experiences for internal stakeholders.

Prof. Aryeetey said the UG had also strategised to create the best environment for equal opportunity in gender and diversity, overhaul all governance arrangements to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency and enhance the mobilisation and management of resources at unit and central administration levels.

It would also strengthen the management of the university’s assets and facilities as well as mainstream and enforce structures and processes for system-wide monitoring and evaluation, and build stakeholder confidence in its capabilities.

The Vice-Chancellor said the university had undergone significant change since its last strategic plan in 2001 to 2011, especially in the area of producing world-class human resources, adding that the institution would remain committed to knowledge generation that positively impacted the lives of those within and outside its community.

Prof Aryeetey said it was anticipated that the demand for other services from the university, beyond the training of minds, would grow as research became more and more important to African economies and society.

Therefore, the way the university was funded was expected to change as a result of expected changes in the public financing of education and the relationship between the UG and the Government.

He said the fact that there were many more universities in Ghana and Africa should even influence the way the UG planned for its future, but indicated that significant improvements had occurred in the past few years in areas including improved staff capacity and growth in the research output of the university’s faculty members.

He said through staff development schemes the number of lecturers with PhDs had increased to 63 per cent compared to 42 per cent 10 years ago.

The Vice-Chancellor said the creation of an Office of Research Innovation and Development had led to significant increases in funding for research from various sources, including Internally Generated Funds (IGF).

He enumerated some current and future challenges of the university as overcrowding of its facilities, both academic and residential and inadequacy of teaching faculty, but said the last decade had seen consistent and dynamic effort to address those as much efforts had been made in the development of student housing and academic buildings.

Prof. Aryeetey said some of the major pillars of the strategic plan period would be to grow the number of graduate students, especially at the PhD level to ensure a ratio of 50:50 undergraduate and graduate, and also maintain a total number of regular residential students at not more than 35,000 by the end of the period.

It aims at expanding the total number of Distance Education and Accra City Campus students to not more than 20,000, expand significantly the number of faculty members to ensure a decent teacher - student ratio in conformity with national norms and standards.

The Volta Association of Washington D.C Metro Area Celebrates End-of -Year Get-Together

                                          

The Volta Association of Washington D.C Metro Area Celebrates End-of -Year Get-Together.

The Volta Association of Washington D.C Metro Area celebrated its annual end-of- year party on Saturday, December 13 at the spacious Sligo Adventist School hall in Takoma Park, Maryland. The event attracted a number of Ghanaians from all walks of life. Speaking at the event, the Reverend Kennedy Odzafi urged members to sign up for the new Affordable Healthcare, popularly called Obama care before enrolment ends. He advised those who are already participating in the program to re-enroll before the deadline.

The Volta Dance Ensemble, the cultural wing of the Volta Association of the Washington D.C. Area, took the opportunity to recognize one of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Vodi, for their roles and contributions towards shaping the activities of the ensemble and presented them with a token gift. 

The occasion also marked the induction into office, new executive officers to run the affairs of the association for the next two years. Inducted into office are the following people to constitute the executive committee of the Volta Association: President-Chris Nuworsoo (re-elected), Vice President-Melba Folly (re-elected), Treasurer-Rejoice Parbey, Secretary-Vincent Kosi,Assistan secretary-Misornu Dzobo, Organizing Chair-Kafui Agboh, Organizing Co-chair Vivian Ocloo. The executive was sworn into office by Reverend Dr. Peter Agbelie.

In his inaugural address, the president asked all hands to be on deck in the coming year to move the association to a higher pedestal of fame. The president granted amnesty to members who have defaulted in the payment of dues and are in arrears for a year or more in order to rally all members around to make their meaningful contributions to the association. Those members were given up to the end of March, 2015, to pay a flat fee of one hundred dollars ($100) and also, an amount of one hundred and twenty dollars ($120) constituting the entire dues for the year 2015. 

The event attracted a number of dignitaries from other associations such as the Asante Kotoko and Magha. Also present at the celebration were past presidents of the Volta Association in the persons of Messrs. Gabriel Pomary, William Ayenson, David Arku, William Adzimahe, and Edwin Agbonyitor.
The rest of the evening was full of fun-fare, crowned with dancing, with music provided by DJ 

Mahama's leadership made a difference in Ebola fight - Ban Ki Moon

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has praised President John Mahama for his wise, bold and timely decision, as well as leadership, to have Accra serve as the logistics hub for the fight against Ebola and for the establishment of the United Nations Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) Mission.“I thank you for your very strong leadership in working together with the UN in addressing this unprecedented outbreak of Ebola,” Mr. Ban said.The UN Secretary-General was speaking on Thursday evening when he and a delegation of top UN officials visited President Mahama at the Flagstaff House in Accra.“Your decision and cooperation in establishing UNMEER here have helped the UN and the international community a great deal to address this issue. Thanks to Ghana, UNMEER has been able to deploy quickly to the affected countries. Ghana has played a key role,” he added.  He commended the President for the role that ECOWAS has played under the leadership of President Mahama in the fight against Ebola.This was in a statement signed by Mr. Ben Dotsei Malor, Head of Communications and Presidential Spokesperson- Office of the President- and copied to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation in Accra on Friday, December 19, 2014.President Mahama, according to the statement, welcomed Mr. Ban and his delegation and thanked him for everything that the United Nations has been doing to support people in the affected nations. “Your coming here to visit the affected nations is going to be a very strong sign of encouragement to them,” said President Mahama.  He commended the fast manner in which the UN’s Ebola mission was deployed.The statement said, President Mahama was sad that the Ebola outbreak has caused so much humanitarian disaster, displaced many people and created a wave of orphans, and also affected the economic fortunes of countries affected by the Ebola outbreak and the sub-region as a whole.It said the two leaders exchanged views on the resumption of flights by many airlines to the affected nations and the way forward.Mr Ban pledged that the United Nations will stand with the people in the affected nations until Ebola is defeated. “We must make sure that the last case of Ebola is identified treated and eliminated. The UN will stand with the people on the region – the affected countries – until such time that we make sure that there are no more cases of Ebola.”Present in the meeting were the Foreign Minister, Hannah Tetteh, Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani, Finance Minister Seth Terkper, Deputy Minister for Health, Dr. Victor Bampoe, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, and Minister for Communications Dr. Omane Boama.Mr. Ban was accompanied by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, Senior UN System Coordinator for Ebola Virus Disease, Dr David Nabarro, and the Head of the UN’s Ebola Mission, Mr Tony Banbury.Mr. Ban leaves Accra on the morning of Friday, 19th December for Liberia, at the start of the four-nation visit that will also take him to Liberia, Guinea and Mali. The statement concluded.

Ghana to launch space satellite

Ghana is to launch a space satellite in the next five years near the Equator for earth observation.To be flagged under the name Ghana Satellite One (GHANASAT 1), it will be the first earth observation satellite in the orbit in the West African sub-region.The three-phase project, being championed by the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) under the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), with technical support from MENASAT?Gulf Group PLC, is projected to facilitate economic planning and management of resources.MENASAT Gulf Group PLC is the developer of the Gulf Satellite which provides real time imagery to the Middle East, North African and South East Asian regions.The first phase will include the building of a modern space data centre, while the second phase will ensure that Ghana has a direct receiving station for harvesting space information by 2020 and the final stage will involve the launch of the space satellite. BenefitsAt a stakeholders meeting in Accra to begin the project, the Director-General of GAEC, Mr Benjamin Jabez Nyarko, said the satellite would help Ghana to take advantage of the space technology to boost economic development.“Satellite data will provide information for the planning and management of the economy. When you are in space, you see things clearly.“Satellite information will help address issues of security, risk management, maritime, forest depletion, water problems and others challenges.“In recent times, we have seen a significant increase in space activities which countries are taking advantage of. Every developed nation has taken science and technology seriously. Ghana cannot afford to miss out on space science technology,” he said.The Director of GSSTI, Professor Dickson Adomako, in his welcome address, said space science and technology had enormous benefits.He said there were plans to team up with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and the Ministry of Communications to use satellite information to boost the agricultural sector.“With the collaboration of the communication networks, we could send information through text messages to farmers in the rural areas on when to start planting,” he said.He said with the satellite, Ghana could also monitor oil spillage in the oil and gas sector to save the environment. Response to emergencyDr Nana Ama Brown Klutse, the manager of remote sensing and climate centre at GSSTI, said some institutions in Ghana had already signed agreements with international agencies for the sourcing of satellite data “but the project will make it possible to access such information locally.”She said it would also reduce the cost in image procurement and avoid duplication of investment by, especially, public institutions.Additionally, she said it would reduce the administration process in acquiring image procurement and improve the response to critical and emergency events, as well as boost national special data infrastructure development.The Chief Technology Officer of MENASAT Gulf Group PLC, Prof Riccardo Maggiora, said the GHANASAT1, which would provide high-level image processing services, was intended to serve the West?African sub-region.