Zambian Chief To Invest In Ghana�s Wildlife Sector

The overload of the Victoria Falls region in southern Zambia, Chief Mukuni, has paid a business visit to Ghana to invest in the country�s wildlife and tourism sectors. Chief Mukuni�s visit was after a team of stakeholders in the tourism sector of Ghana visited Zambia last month on a fact-finding mission to explore areas of Zambia�s booming tourism sector they could learn from. The team, which comprised of representatives from the Forestry Commission of Ghana and the Ghana Tourist Development Company (GTDC), also thought of replicating the Mukuni Big 5 - where they had encounters with elephants, tamed lions and cheetahs � in Ghana. Chief Mukuni in an official visit to the head office of the Forestry Commission, and after being taken on a tour through the Achimota Forest, agreed on investing in the proposed Accra Eco-Park Project, which will be situated at the forest. �I�m here to see how you do your tourism business and probably get two or three ideas and also at the same time to share with you what we are doing back in Zambia,� Chief Mukuni said. For a start, Chief Mukuni, who referred to Ghana as a sleeping giant because, according to him, Ghana has not yet tapped fully into its tourism potentials, pledged on providing Ghana with animals such as cheetahs and lions. The Zambian chief also called for the establishment of a training college to train Ghanaians in tourism so as to get them well equipped to effectively manage the sector to generate the needed revenue for the development of the country. Reacting to Chief Mukuni�s call for a tourism college, the acting Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Nana Kofi Adu-Nsiah said, �With some investments, the revenue leaves the country but with tourism it stays. Yet there are no colleges for tourism and hospitality and in a bid to meet world standards, we lose revenue when we employ foreign expertise.� The Forestry Commission will need about US$323 million for the project and it intends to raise the funds through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). The Forestry Commission also made known that it will through its internally generated funds provide 55% or US$175 million while PPP financing will cover the remaining 45% or US$146 million. The Achimota Eco-Park, when completed, will comprise an amusement park, a cultural village, orchard, arboretum for research, a museum and a prayer ground for religious activities, among others.