Accra, Nov 23, GNA- Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday appealed to the Ministry of Communications to encourage private indigenous participation in the Telecommunications sector.

This he said apart from creating the sense of Ghanaian ownership would also provide strategic positions in the companies to teeming Ghanaian graduates.

Vice President Mahama mad this appeal when he laid foundation stones for the construction of two projects under the Ministry of Communications in Accra.

The projects are made up of the Headquarters of the National Communication Authority at the Airport city and the National Data Centre and offices of the Ministry of Communications at Ridge.

The NCA project is being undertaken by the ENERGOPROJEKT Company while the National Data Centre, which is expected to be completed within 22 months is undertaken by Top Engineering Company Limited.

While the NCA project would empower them to carry out their regulatory activities, the National Data Centre would serve as the national and international port of information.

Vice President Mahama said the NCA had performed creditably well in the past years and hoped that the construction of permanent offices would spur them on to become the best regulatory body in the African continent.

He commended the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication for their initial GHC 7 million for the construction of the National Data Centre and their promise to top up with another GHc9 million for the project.

Alhaji Haruna Iddrisu, Communications Minister, said the NCA was establishing new offices in the Northern, Ashanti and Western Regions as part of their decentralization project and called on stakeholders to play their roles responsibly.

He said the world was driven by Information, and Communication Technology and that the construction of a national data centre would serve as a back- up and reference point for all information in the country.

Alhaji Haruna said the NCA would soon declare zero tolerance for poor telecommunications services to further penalize operators who were taking their customers for granted.