Communications Minister and Member for Parliament for Ablekuma West Ursula Owusu Ekuful last week paid another working visit to her constituents.
Mrs. Owusu Ekuful last month embarked on a similar visit where she cut the sod for the Shiabu Police Station project as well as launched an e-learning extra classes program for senior high school students in the constituency.
The latest working visit was held on Friday, February 15 and had Mrs. Owusu Ekuful inspected the refurbished Dansoman Post Office and the Kit Kat Polyclinic site earmarked for the construction of a maternity block for the Dansoman Polyclinic.
She also handed over to the Ablekuma West Municipal Assembly a one-storey new office.
Interacting with journalists after inspecting the renovated Dansoman post office, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful said the refurbishment was in collaboration with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics manufacturer.
The post office is expected to be fully renovated in four weeks to allow for official commissioning, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful said.
The reconditioned post office, she said will provide a more congenial atmosphere for people to transact their businesses as well as serving as an e-services center.
She said: “It’s forward-looking in terms of providing a space for the parcels that are going to be coming through the uptake of e-commerce in this community. And with the launching of the digital property addressing system, people don’t need to move various locations to pick up correspondence and parcels. In filling out the forms, they can just indicate their digital addresses it will be delivered to the post office which will send it to you at your doorsteps.”
With plug and play office spaces for those who may want to lease the space for a short while, conferencing facilities and a hotspot to provide wifi services to locals, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful said the refurbished Dansoman post office is the “prototype of the e-service centers that we have in mind” to be replicated nationwide.
On the Dansoman polyclinic maternity block, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful said funding of GH¢500000 has been secured for the project and it is expected to commence by February ending and be completed in six months.
“The contractor has been engaged and the contract has been awarded. He’s ready to start the construction,” she said adding “I am looking forward to work on this structure because it will relieve the congestion in the Dansoman polyclinic immensely.”
“It’s a very congested place. Pregnant women go there for antenatal services, but when it’s time for delivery they have to go somewhere else because they don’t have space or the facilities to take them through delivery and postnatal services. It truncates their healthcare provision,” she said.
Speaking at a ceremony to hand over the new one storey office to the Ablekuma West Municipal Assembly, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful said: “This is the beginning of a dream come true.”
She said efforts are being made to move all the public service agencies within the municipality to move into the new office to drive traffic “not just road related traffic but work related.”
That, she said will help boost the municipality’s internally generated fund. She said “Ablekuma West will be a smart municipality and I pledge to do what it takes to help us digitize the municipality.”
