Ghana’s utilities regulator, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has launched a state of the art Database Management System (DMS) at its head office in Accra, capital of Ghana.
The US$165,000 project was fully funded by the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Trust Fund through the African Development Bank (AfDB) and developed by local IT firm, Indisys Global Ltd.
The project provides a secure, multi-tier management system for all regulatory data with role-based access and front–end capability for processing, reporting and management of the Commission’s operations.
The DMS has about 22 features such as research assessment, projects, surveys, ratings, help desk, court cases and messages.
Speaking at a virtual launch of the Database Management System under the theme: ‘Effective Power Sector Regulation Through Improved Technology’, Executive Secretary of the PURC, Mami Dufie Ofori noted that the establishment of the DMS is in line with the overall digitisation agenda of the government and aimed at boosting the efficiency and effectiveness of doing business in Ghana for accelerated socio-economic development.
She expressed optimism that the initiative would open the Commission’s services and the utility sector to stakeholders by ensuring easy access to data.
She added that it would enable the Commission to access and disseminate the appropriate information and reports for effective decision making amongst many other outcomes.
“The DBMS, being launched today, is the latest addition to our digitisation process, which began with the installation of a state of the art electricity meter testing laboratory and computerisation of the Human Resource Management System.”
The next phase in this endeavor, Mrs Dufie said is to network the utilities’ operational system to access real-time performance data to enable the Commission take appropriate and timely regulatory decisions.
She commended the staff of PURC, the African Development Bank, as well as the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund, for their support which has brought about the realisation of the initiative.
Making a statement on behalf of AfDB, Mr Callixte Kambanda, Manager for Energy, Policy, Regulation and Statistics, commended the PURC for its digitisation drive which, he said, falls in line with the Bank’s policy.
Mr Kambanda, emphasising on the importance of the Database Management System, charged the PURC to encourage the energy sector institutions to use the platform.
The Korean Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Lim Jung-taek, the guest speaker, was hopeful that the DBMS would help strengthen energy regulation in Ghana.
On her part, Minister for Communication and Digitisation, Ursula Ekuful, in a speech read for her, noted that the world is rapidly moving towards virtual activities and engagements, stating that any country that wishes to flourish in the twenty-first century must embrace technology and digitisation in its development agenda.
“The emergence of coronavirus has more than tripled the world’s digitisation rate,’’ she said.
She noted that PURC’s Database Management System would not only provide solutions for customers and increase information sharing with stakeholders, but would also vastly improve the Commission’s internal working relationships.
The Minister commended PURC and encouraged other government agencies to use information communication technology in the same way.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com