Ghana Grants Tax Waiver for Purchasing Earthquake and Weather Monitoring Equipment

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Ghana’s legislative parliament has approved a ¢1.6 million (USD277,410) tax waiver to acquire devices for monitoring earthquakes and weather in the West African country.

Parliament made the approval based on an ongoing Ghana radio astronomy project and colocation of the satellite earth observation group receiving station at Kuntunse for the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI).  

The project is also a bilateral partnership between Ghana and South Africa. The GSSTI of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) in collaboration with the Square Kilometer Array-South Africa will establish a facility to train students in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology and Space Science in Ghana.

In a report by Joy Online, the Finance committee chairman, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah opined that the project would help to improve space expertise in Ghana, enhance human capacity development, and ripple into other sectors. 

While addressing parliament to explain the importance of the project, Dr Yeboah said “an integral part of the telescope facility is the global navigation satellite system reference receiver, a geodetic level antenna and seismic system to study the weather, earthquake and plate tectonics. Ghana’s position on the globe makes the country closest to the equator, and that is one of the reasons Ghana was chosen as a partner country”.

This new development will be memorabilia to Ghana’s expansive commitment to developing its space sector.