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Work on the $38 million Eastern Corridor fibre-optic broadband backbone infrastructure project has begun in Ho in the Volta Region. The 600-kilometre stretch project which is being undertaken by Alcatel-Lucent will last 12 months and will stretch to Bawku in the Upper East Region. It will also be linked to other parts of the country to make it possible for the provision of network access to all districts to facilitate the delivery of government service to the people. Unlike many of such projects in the country where deep trenches are dug, sometimes through major road networks, the route for this project will be dug using sophisticated equipment that will seldom show on the surface but will have the fibre optic laid. The project comes complete with the provision of data centres and data services and managed services component to ensure data security on the entire networks. The Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who broke the ground for the commencement of work on the project, said the project will make it possible for the people and businesses along that stretch to benefit from high speed broadband connectivity. �It will also afford telecommunications companies in the country which have poor services in that part of the country to tap into the project to be able for provide better services to their customers,� he added. The minister also noted that �the economic and social benefits that accrued from building the national fibre backbone network has been very tremendous. There is no argument that investing in broadband serves to improve economic growth and social development and the domino effect is an increase in opportunities and employment for Ghanaians.� Mr Iddrisu said the design of this particular project was such that it would provide high-speed data links between government agencies such as the district assemblies, hospitals, police, schools, police stations, national health insurance and immigration office, among others. Remote and rural locations will also have the fair share of the infrastructure. �The network which shall also introduce more resilience and redundancy to the already existing infrastructure will connect about 27 districts and municipal assemblies and surrounding communities from Ho to Bawku and it will branch off to Yendi and into Tamale,� he said. Mr Idrrisu said to minimise the risks associated with this project and mitigate them in the mutual interest of both parties and in line with international best practice, an independent engineer would be engaged to ensure that both parties to the project have value for money. He said the full collaboration of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), which would be acting on behalf of ministry and Alcatel-Lucent, was being �requested to enable the independent engineer to expertly advise and support both parties to deliver the project on time.� The Vice President of Alactel-Lucent, Mr Daniel Jaeger, said the project was one meant to bring broadband access directly to the people to enhance their lives and well-being in all facets. He said the project was also expected to attract more investments into the area as those who come in would have access to fast telecommunication services.