The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), an implementing agency of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation responsible for programmes to close the Digital Divide, has been commended for its strong operational and financial position.
A member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament and MP for Offinso South constituency, Isaac Yaw Opoku who led PAC to review GIFEC’s statement of operations and financial position on 3rd February, 2023, observed that GIFEC posted an impressive 7.2% increase in surplus of income over expenditure, compared to the previous year.
He described the development as significant which has improved GIFEC’ liquidity, as a result.
He concluded that GIFEC’s “financial position is very good. Non-current assets increased by 14.5%, current assets by 20.1%. Their liquidity position is very strong and (has) even improved over the previous year. In fact, they did well and need to be commended.”
On progress of the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project (GRT&DIP), GIFEC’s flagship project, Mr. Prince Ofosu Sefah, Administrator (CEO) of GIFEC spoke about its unprecedented nature, as began in late 2020.
He said 473 out of the 1,008 (50% of the planned 2,016 Rural Mobile Sites being deployed by the Project) have been completed and are active and delivering voice and data services to citizens.
He assured the Committee that plans were far advanced and efforts were being expedited to resolve all technical difficulties being encountered, to ensure that the remaining sites are all built and activated this year.
He concluded that equipment for the construction of the remaining 50% of the 2,016 Sites are actually in the country, awaiting funding for deployment, which is expected in the near-future.
The GRT&DIP forms part of GIFEC’s flagship Rural Telephony Programme, which is funded by the Government of Ghana (GoG), through a strategic agreement with Huawei and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC), funded by the China EXIM Bank to establish 2,016 Rural Telephony Sites in as many communities across the country, envisioned to provide mobile network coverage to about 3.4 million more citizens.
GIFEC supervises the implementation of this Project, working with Technical Partners, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD). This unprecedented Project has been spearheaded by the Honourable Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, who also chairs the Board of Trustees of GIFEC, positions she has held since 2017.
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