THE Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has merged some of its institutes to make them more efficient, cost effective and well-placed to respond to the council's commercialisation programme.The mergers, which are also intended to eliminate duplications and generate composite and integrated programmes, form part of an exercise to streamline the research activities of the CSIR.

Mr J. Ekow Rhule, Public Relations Officer of the CSIR, speaking in an interview, said four institutes and three centres have been merged into three institutes.

The Institute of Aquatic Biology (IAB) and the Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) have been merged to form the new Water Research Institute (WRI) whilst the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) and the Scientific Instrumentation Centre (SIC) have also been merged into the new Institute of Industrial Research (IIR).

The others are: the National Science and Technology Library and Information Centre (NASTLIC), National Atlas Development Centre (NADEC), and the National Science and Technology Press (NASTED) which have been merged into the new Institute for Scientific and Technological Information (INSTI).Mr Rhule said the new WRI will research into water resources in the country with a view to providing scientific and technical information as well as services needed for the sustainable development, use and management, for the socio-economic development of the country.

The IIR, he said, has the mandate to undertake research geared towards the solution of Ghana's industrial problems, thereby enhancing the efficiency of local industries.

Accordingly, Mr Rhule said, the institute's research activities are focused on process and product design and development, the production of adaptive technology and calibration of equipment.

He said the IIR will also develop facilities and skills in instrumentation and measurement that are relevant to the country's educational, industrial and technological development.

As regards INSTI, Mr Rhule said the institute has been charged with the responsibility to develop national capacity for the efficient and effective provision of scientific and technological information to the public, through the publication and dissemination of appropriately-packaged research results.

He said the mergers have been accorded statutory recognition. Graphic