Kusi (E/R), Oct. 23, GNA - The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, has called for speedy acquisition and documentation of sites identified for the establishment of science and technology parks in the Eastern Region.

This will enable these centres to be developed into a bio-diversity hob. She said this when she met the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, as part of her familiarization tour of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Thursday. Ms Ayittey said a lot of development partners of the country were ready to offer support and consultation for early development of those centres in the region. Mr Ofosu-Ampo fo expressed regret that despite the existence of many research centres in the region, there was no coordination and collaboration among these institutions and the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) in a way that could ensure effective and coordinated impact of research findings on the economic development of the area.

He said sometimes when investors called on the RCC, it was difficult for the RCC to promote the research findings of the institutions and support the commercialization of the findings.

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said the region had contributed a lot in the development of the cocoa industry and it was time the region was rewarded with a cocoa processing factory.

He informed the minister that 40 acres of land had been identified at Apirede for acquisition and development into a Science and Technology Park in addition to another 16 acres of land belonging to CSIR at Bunso.

Ms Ayittey visited the CSIR-Oil Palm Research Institute at Kusi and announced that the ministry was to establish a National Science and Technology Innovation Fund to help raise resources to fund scientific research in the country.

She said enough research had been done by research institutions in the country and it was time those findings were commercialized to support industry.

Ms Ayittey said the ministry was to introduce bi-annual Science and Technological fairs to enable research institutions to showcase their achievements and how those findings could support industry. The ministry would also be organizing annual scientific forums for researchers to meet, interact and share ideas and know what was happening at research institutions to enable the researchers to reduce duplication and ensure effective utilization of research findings. Ms Ayittey said her office was also working on the policy guidelines to enable all research findings to be patented so that when they are commercialized, the individual researchers and the institutions could benefit.

She assured the staff that the ministry was working on the payment of their professional allowance and back pay to ensure that they got them before the introduction of the single spine salary structure. The chairman of the local Union, Mr Mannix Kwakye, appealed for the tarring of the road leading to the research centre and the provision of an oil palm extraction mill for the centre to support their income generation programmes. 23 Oct. 09