DANIDA Hands Over ICT Project To government

The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) has provisionally handed over the extended portion of the Eastern Corridor Fiber Optic Backbone project to the Government of Ghana.

The 165 kilometres extended backbone project links Ho to Accra and its implementation started in 2016 with Kenpong Construction Limited playing a key role as the subcontractor.

It seeks to provide a telecommunications infrastructure on which government’s digitization programmes shall operate.

The actual Eastern Corridor Fiber Optic Backbone Project which spans 800km, linking Ghana’s south and north as well as international submarine gateways, commenced in 2013 with a €38 million support from the government of Denmark, serving major towns such as Ho, Kpando, Jasikan, Nkwanta, Bimbilla, Yendi, Tamale, Gushiegua and Bawku as well as 23 smaller communities.

The project with a data centre and a managed service component to ensure the security of data on the entire network was designed and implemented by Alcatel-Lucen, with support from Ghanaian construction company, Kenpong Construction Limited.  

Speaking at the handing over ceremony on Friday, April 13, 2018, the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful indicated that about 120 communities were connected along the Eastern Corridor route which is expected to be managed by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA).

According to her, the decision to link neighbouring communities along the fibre optic route was to enable them utilize “utilize the high-speed access that it grants them to both voice and data connectivity.”

Without a robust fibre optic network it is too expensive to deliver telecommunication services to remote part of the country or to deliver high-speed internet services to even those of us in the urban areas, she said.

So it was imperative that the government put in place a fibre loop around the country on which we will utilize to extend services to all the communities along the route, she added.

The Minister explained that the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was keen on digitizing the Ghanaian economy and providing a better e-governance service for the masses.

Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana, Tove Degnbol in a remark described the Eastern Corridor Fiber Optic Project as the backbone of Ghana’s digitization strategy.