Accra (Greater Accra) 25 June ?99

Cabinet has approved a loan of 16 million dollars from a South African company to be used in buying operational vehicles for the Police Service, Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications, said on Thursday.

The loan from Reumech would be spent on 20 patrol vehicles, 15 semi-armoured vehicles for rapid response to situations and eight armoured vehicles with water cannons for crowd control.

The rest are eight troop carriers with capacity for 30 persons each, four 20-seater buses and 60 motorcycles.

Mr Mahama, briefing journalists about decisions taken at recent Cabinet meetings, said the cost is inclusive of spares, training and other logistics.

There is a grace period of three years on the loan and a repayment period of seven years at an interest rate of 0.5 per cent.

"This is an important development taking into account the spate of armed robberies and other criminal activities in the country," he said.

Mr Mahama said cabinet also approved two Dutch aid packages that are grants for the improvement of water supply in Accra and Winneba.

One grant is from the Netherlands government worth 8.2 million dollars and the other, is 15.7 dollars, from ABN AMRO Bank for Ghana Water and Sewerage Company.

The Accra project involves the rehabilitation and expansion of water treatment facilities at Weija to improve both the quality and the quantity of water for western Accra.

The Winneba project involves the rehabilitation and expansion of water supply systems in and around Winneba, including the campus of the University College of Education.

Mr Mahama said cabinet approved a concessionary credit of 21 million dollars from the US Export-Import Bank to be used to buy materials to connect more communities to the national electricity grid.

Approval was given to the Ministry of Health to benefit from a grant of one million dollars to be used to buy blood transfusion equipment from Diamed AG of Switzerland, he said.

The equipment would be given to three teaching hospitals, eight regional hospitals, 12 district hospitals and two polyclinics.

"The recipient institutions were selected on the basis of the frequency of blood transfusion carried", he said.

Mr Mahama said the Ministry of Health also presented a draft National Drugs Policy to consolidate and clarify policy issues as well as proposals for the regulations of the practice of alternative/complementary medicine.

The use of such systems as homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy, therapeutic massage are increasingly acknowledged and a growing number of practitioners are establishing well-organised practices.

However, there is no registration or control of standards. The Ministry, therefore, set up a committee that included practitioners of alternative medicine to draw up proposals for the regulation of such practices.

Mr Mahama said the Minister of Health requested the exemption from VAT of items donated to health institutions, explaining that many health institutions receive assistance but VAT charged on such items had become a disincentive to donors.

Mr Samuael Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health, said the Centre for Research into Plant Medicine is not being divested as is being rumoured. Rather, a US company is entering into partnership with it to process and package its products for export.

Mr Simon Abingya, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, said the water level in the Akosombo Dam is encouraging, hitting the 240-foot mark as at Thursday.

"Last year at this time it was 237 feet. Therefore, there is no cause for alarm."

He said the government's rural electrification programme would go on.