Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes on Tuesday cut the sod for the commencement of rehabilitation work on a two-storey building to be used as offices for Members and staff of Parliament.

The Parliamentary Service Board acquired the old GNTC building situated at Ridge, near the Ghana International Press Centre, to facilitate the work of Parliament.

The first phase of the project being funded by Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is to be completed by June 2007. The entire project of the rehabilitation work would cost 2.5 million dollars.

Leading Consultant for the project, Mr Bernard Acheampong said at the ceremony that the ground floor had five meeting rooms with the capacity to seat 40 people each.

He said there was also a library on the ground floor, a staff room and a secretariat for the Institute of Parliamentary studies. Mr Acheampong said the first floor would have offices for the research staff for the Parliamentary Committees as well as two meeting rooms.

The top floor would have an elevator for both male and female as well as ramps to enable the disable have access to it.

The yard would have a parking lot that could take 140 cars. Cutting the sod, Mr Sekyi-Hughes noted that the House still required a lot of resources to make its work effective and expressed appreciation to DANIDA for its support for the first phase of the project.