Parliament adopts reports on international agreements

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - Parliament on Friday adopted the Report of the Finance Committee relating to a request for the approval to waive taxes and exempt the payment of fiscal levies totalling over 1.5 million dollars and 11.2 billion cedis for the rehabilitation of the Ofankor-Nsawam road by Messrs China Railway Engineering Corporation.

Mr Benjamin Osei Kufuor, Vice Chairman of the Committee, said the implementation of the project would facilitate the movement of goods for export as well as for internal trade since about two-thirds of the country's products for export and internal trade were moved on the Accra-Kumasi highway.

"The Committee observed that if the project was not exempted from the payment of taxes and duties as requested, then the government of Ghana would have to raise money to pay itself because the contract agreement stated clearly that it should be exempted from payment of such taxes," the Vice Chairman of the Committee told the House.

"The Committee noted that the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service had worked out the tax liability of the project totalling 1.532,827 US dollars in foreign cost and 11,258,662,737.00 cedis in local cost," he added.

The House also adopted the Committee's Report on a credit agreement between Ghana and Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. of the Netherlands, the Guarantee Institute for Export Bank Credit (GIEK) of Norway and the Trust Bank of Ghana for an amount of over 30.5 million US dollars for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Electricity Company of Ghana distribution system in Accra, Tema and Kumasi.

The amount is made up of over 26.5 US dollars from Fortis Bank and GIEK and over 3.9 US dollars from Trust Bank of Ghana bringing it to a total of 30,506,729.99 US dollars.

The Report of the Committee on Mines and Energy on the Indemnity Agreement between Ghana and the International Development Association relating to the West African Gas Pipeline project was also adopted.