Accra, Nov. 15, GNA - Close to 500,000 dollars have so far been injected into rural and peri-urban communities in eight regions of the country following the implementation of the eCARE project a year ago. eCARE (Electronic Commence and Renewable Energy) is an innovative project bridging not only the digital divide but also the energy divide in rural communities without access to modern energy services. The project was initiated in December 2003 as a Public Private Partnership of Ghana Telecom; Telecom Management Partner, a Norwegian company; the United Nations Foundation; United Nations Environment Programme and the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment (KITE).

Speaking at the opening of a three-day meeting for eCARE partners in Accra, Mr Joseph Abanyin, Project Manager of eCare, said at present 37 eCare Centres had been established with about 77 entrepreneurs trained under it.

He said the project identified; screened; recruited and trained entrepreneurs to operate and own a Rural Business Centres (RBC). The approved entrepreneurs pay 10 per cent of the capital expense as equity for a given a loan to eventually own their RBCs in their respective communities.

Mr Abanyin said a team provided entrepreneurs with technical assistance to develop additional revenue through new enterprise and renewable energy services for local communities. Assessing the impact of the project so far, Mr Abanyin said several under-served communities were reached with eCARE making available and affordable basic ICT and energy services.

Livelihood of beneficiary entrepreneurs have been tremendously improved as their income levels had appreciated creating jobs even for others in the communities.

He said before the end of the year, 15 more RBCs would have been established and added that the year 2007 would see rollouts for the Northern and Upper Regions. Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan, ICT Advisor at the Ministry of Communication, lauded the project initiative and said the ability to use technology was becoming increasingly important in the workplace as the technology job market paid 80 per cent more than the average private sector wage. He said eCARE RBCs would complement services of ICT Centres in remote areas nationwide.

"Gradually the luxury of communication as it was considered a few years ago is becoming part of the lives of rural and under-served societies," Mr Adu-Gyan said. Mrs Abena Sarfo-Agyei, Director, Legal Affairs of the National Communication Authority, said given the current pace in growth, it was highly feasible to reach 25 per cent of the population with ICT access by 2010.

She said currently the six-telecommunication operators in the country reach more than four million people representing about 24.7 per cent of the population.