Tema, Sept. 5, GNA -- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday inaugurated the 21.7 billion cedi Head Office Complex for the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) with a call on the Corporation to respond effectively and promptly to demands for accommodation.

President Kufuor said, with the inauguration of the project, the TDC must re-position itself to respond effectively and promptly to the rapidly increasing demands for not only industrial and commercial demands but also residential accommodation within the metropolis. =93Tema's ever-increasing importance in Ghana's economy and beyond must never be lost on the Management of the TDC,=94 he said.

The Complex comprises of three, two-storey blocks arranged in triangular fashion around well-landscaped courtyards with well-manicured lawns and colourful rock gardens linked by three covered walkways. It took almost 24 months to complete the project, was funded by the TDC through its own resources.

Tema was conceived to be a complete and modern city with the most extensive mass housing scheme, providing over 6,500 housing units in properly designed neighbourhoods.

President Kufuor noted that Tema started off well as it developed industrial sites which are home to Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Nestl=E9s and other industrial plants. He said over the past three decades the vision could, however, not be sustained as the great initiative suffered set-backs from among other things, poor leadership and failing economy.

President Kufuor said with developments such as the office complex and a 96-acre modern one-stop-business centre started by the TDC to offer office accommodation to investors and developers in banking, shipping, shopping and other commercial activities, the decline was now being reversed.

'What is happening today can be said to be correctly reflecting economic revival of the nation, considering the resurgence of industrial and commercial activity in the metropolis and its environs.'

He said, there was brisk business in the Industrial Free Zones and cited the back on stream VALCO, relocation of Nestles West and Central Africa Head Office in Ghana coupled with the expansion of its local operations.

President Kufuor said Tema was currently the most preferred entre port for land-locked countries in the sub-region, adding that all these developments posed complex challenges to the TDC.

He said they called for far-sighted planning, timely implementation and maintenance of infrastructure, eradication of slums, unsanitary conditions and unauthorised structures.

Besides, President Kufuor said, maintenance of law and other and sustained attack on criminality and anti-social activities should be given priority attention by the Corporation.

He said with the expanding promise of the Port and the metropolis, it should be anticipated that efforts at criminal infiltration, especially smuggling, the drug menace and other anti-social development would occur.

The authorities should therefore be alert and network with the city, government and security agencies to fend off the dangers. President Kufuor praised the Board, Management and workers of the TDC for working hard to restore the Corporation within the short period of about four years to the vision for which it was established. Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, said Ghana should begin to have edifices, structures and offices that future generations would be proud of.

He drew attention to the need to ensure that the newly built office was regularly maintained.

The Managing Director of the TDC, Madam Elizabeth Mansa Banson said through prudent management, they had not only cleared all their debts but were now comfortably in the green.

The TDC was established 54 years ago with the sole responsibility of transforming the Government acquired 63 square miles of land from Tema, Kpone and Nungua Traditional authorities into a modern township to provide accommodation for numerous workers that would be employed by the industrial activities to be created by the synergy of the construction of the Tema Port and the Akosombo Dam.