Accra (Greater Accra) 29 April ?99

 A draft of the Ghana Privatisation Trust Bill, is to be presented to Parliament, Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications, announced on Wednesday at a post-cabinet briefing at the Castle, Osu.

The bill will seek to create a Trust that will manage the Government's minority shares in enterprises, which have been or are being privatised under the divestiture programme.

The shares are to be prepared and packaged for sale to workers of the enterprises, institutional investors and the general public.

"It was noted that the Privatisation Trust will ensure greater participation of the wider Ghanaian public," he said, adding this will address the foreign domination of the divestiture programme.

The Trust would have a board of trustees and secretariat headed by an Executive Secretary.Mr Mahama said Cabinet approved for confirmation by Parliament a concessional development credit agreement with the International Development Association (IDA) for 180 million dollars.

"It will be used in reforms to enhance the efficiency of the cocoa industry, including ensuring further improvements in producer prices, as well as banking and energy sector reform."

The amount is also to support the budget in the Structural Adjustment Reform Programme.

Payment is to be over 40 years with a 10-year moratorium, with commitment and service charges totalling 1.25 per cent.

Mr Mahama said Cabinet recommended for ratification of Parliament a concessional loan of 7.7 million dollars from Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) for the Tamale Storm Water drainage Project.

The repayment period is 14 years at an interest rate of three per cent per annum, with a four-year grace period.

The project, which will complement the reconstruction of roads in Tamale, will provide primary storm drains involving 13.4 kilometres of open concrete channels and six kilometres of closed drains to prevent flooding.

The Bui Development Committee has been given approval to negotiate and sign the Memorandum of Understanding with a British consortium on the development of the Bui Hydro-Electric Power Project for private sector funding.

Out of the nine companies, which responded to build the dam, Brown and Root Consortium was ranked the highest bidder because of its "impressive background in the energy, construction and finance and its responsiveness to Ghana's needs.", Mr Mahaama said.

Cabinet has also approved the Environmental Sanitation Policy presented by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.

A Cabinet Social Sector Committee has therefore called for the establishment of the National Environmental Sanitation Policy Co-ordinating Committee to accelerate the implementation of the policy.

A six million-dollar loan from KFW, the German Reconstruction and Development Bank, was approved to be used in the replacement of obsolete switch gear and other equipment at electricity sub-stations in Accra and Kumasi to improve energy distribution.