May 2009

Ghana: Irritating Irritants And Eye Sores - We have been made to believe that Ghana,is the gateway to West Africa, what with the relative peace and tranquility that has characterized socio-economic as well as political life within the sub-region.

Yet it also holds true that Ghana is fast become one huge cauldron of decadence and degenerate behaviour, with filth becoming the national belt of unity traversing every strata of society. Ordinarily, this assertion would be dismissed even by yours truly as a notch too harsh on the good people of this country.

However, recent developments on the social and environmental front give great cause for alarm while exposing our shameful penchant for mediocrity and lack of proper supervision. A few examples would suffice in this instance. [AA Urbanisation]

Zimbabwe: Country Needs Over 500 000 New Houses - Zimbabwe needs more than 500 000 new houses and the Government is committed to formulating policies that ensure people are provided with homes. [AA Construction]

Nigeria: Revisiting Forest of Antennas - Country Your Skyline! - Part( 1) - Internet culture teaches us to be always nice and cautious while online - especially the first wired meet, which may last several months of e-mail exchanges. The inspiring thing is that you never know how knowledge loaded your counterpart on the other side of the network may be. Neither should one get too emotional - after all, it is gradually becoming a "knowledge everywhere" world. I met 'R' (his Internet signature) Roland Alden on the net many months ago through a friend. And before I know it, he was routed to Nigeria to trouble shoot Telecoms bugs for a service provider. No sooner than he landed that the wireless bug with forest antenna which has almost defaced our country caught his attention and ever since, this has become our online pass time. [AA Urbanisation]

South Africa: Test Run for Jo'burg Bus Lanes - THE City of Johannesburg would use its new Rea Vaya rapid bus transit (BRT) lanes and buses during next month's Confederations Cup though final agreement had not been reached with the taxi industry on how the system would work, the Department of Transport said yesterday. [AA Urbanisation]

South Africa: City to Replace 500km of Piping - JOHANNESBURG Water will spend R500m over the next five years replacing some of the city's ageing water pipe infrastructure in a bid to deal with the problem of leaks and burst pipes once and for all. [AA Urbanisation]

Uganda: Government Blamed for Delaying Development Plan - Non-Governmental organisations have blamed the Government for delaying the National Development Plan, saying the country lacked direction in development. [AA Urbanisation]

Kenya: Slum-Dwellers Priced Into Hunger - Millions of people who live in Kenya's sprawling slums are among those worst hit by the food price crisis, yet they receive far less humanitarian attention than other demographic groups, according to officials, who pointed in particular to the plight of malnourished children in such settlements. [AA Urbanisation]

South Africa: Olifantsfontein Bridge to Reduce Traffic Congestion - Congestion on major freeways in Gauteng will be drastically reduced when the construction of the Olifantsfontein Bridge is completed. [AA Construction]

Rwanda: 60 Percent Design Work for New Bugesera Airport Complete - Design works on the ongoing project to construct the New Bugesera International Airport (NBIA) have been completed by 60 per cent. [AA Construction]

Botswana: SPTC Launches Housing Allocation Committee - Selebi-Phikwe Town Council has finally launched the Council Housing Allocation Committee to deal with the allocation of council houses in the town. [AA Urbanisation]

Mozambique, Zambia And Zimbabwe Agree On Conservation Area - Mozambique, Zambia And Zimbabwe Agree On Conservation Area - Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia have agreed that the three countries will jointly manage the natural resources in their cross border conservation areas. [AA Network News] [AA Mozambique]

New Government Information Website - Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Information and Communication has launched a new website: http://www.fmic.gov.ng [AA Nigeria]