The Ghana Air Force in collaboration with the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, have constructed a helipad at the Bank of Ghana’s Regional office at Sefwi Boako in the Western North Region of Ghana to airlift currencies.
At a short ceremony on Thursday, March 16, 2023, the Air Force and the 48 Engineer Regiment handed over the newly constructed helipad to the Bank.
The helipad is expected to boost the Bank’s currency movement operations to the Western part of the country by airlifting currencies from Accra to Sefwi Boako.
The handing over ceremony was witnessed by officials of the Bank, the Ghana Air Force and 48 Engineer Regiment Officers.
The Bank’s team was led by the Director of the Security Department of the Bank, Wing Commander Kwame Asare-Boateng (Rtd), Nana Buabeng of the Corporate Management Services Department and the Regional Manager of the Sefwi Boako Office.
On behalf of the Governor, Wg Cdr Asare-Boateng expressed the Bank’s appreciation to the Ghana Air Force, 48 Engineers Regiment and other stakeholders for helping to construct the Helipad in record time.
He indicated that the helipad will enable the Bank to transport currencies safely to Sefwi Boako without any attacks on the Bank’s bullion vans.
The Air Force and the 48 Engineer Regiment were represented by Air Cdre C.N.A Mills, and Lt. Col. Albert Tekyi.
Background:
Following the accident of a Bank of Ghana Bullion Van in November 2019 at Techiman, in the Bono East Region of Ghana, the Management of the Bank of Ghana established a committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the accident and make recommendations to improve currency movement operations in the country.
Amongst other recommendations, the committee suggested to the Management of the Bank to explore other means of distributing currencies across the country. Based on the committee’s report, the Bank engaged the Ghana Air Force on the possibility of airlifting currencies to some of its Regional Offices in the country.
The engagement with the Air Force led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which made the Air Force to commence the lifting of currencies from Accra to Tamale in late 2020.
After a successful lifting of currencies via the Tamale-Accra route, the two institutions begun ways of extending the services to other Regional Offices.
Based on the foregoing, the idea of building a helipad was nurtured.