SEMU MWAKYANJALA and CHARLES KIZIGHA
Daily News; Monday,April 30, 2007
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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Daily News) - NEW Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) ministerial conference in Dar es Salaam has resolved to push for speedy implementation of the stalled East African Sub-Marine Cable System (EASSy) Project. Minister for Infrastructure Development Andrew Chenge said over the weekend that the ministers have agreed to meet in Malawi in June, to enable experts sort out factors inhibiting the implementation of the multi-billion shillings project which is expected to bring about revolution in communication technology in sub-Saharan Africa.
"We are concerned with the snails pace in the execution of the project," Mr Chenge, who chaired the meeting, said. He said although the proliferation of new information and communication technologies has brought about opportunities for fast economic growth, the world was still witnessing a wide digital divide that contributed uneven development progress.
Presenting a paper at the meeting, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) Director General, Professor John Nkoma, cautioned against continued dependency on the costly satellite communication systems.
Prof Nkoma said the use of cost-effective sub-marine cables was a key factor towards the realisation of swift economic growth and development in many countries.
Unfortunately, he said, it was only eastern Africa that is not linked to the cheap communication facility. The project is expected to cost 300bn/-. Countries which have signed the protocol to build the sub-marine optical fibre submarine cable include Botswana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mauritius, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, Malawi, Burundi and Mozambique.
Others which have interest in the EASSY project include Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia, Lesotho and Namibia.
Source: Daily News, April 30, 2007