(3) The Authority
(a) shall ensure that the Fund Secretariat is
staffed with suitably qualified and expe
rienced personnel, who may be seconded
from the Authority’s staff;
(b) may also recruit suitably qualified personnel
from outside the Authority as required to
meet the staffing requirements of the Fund
Secretariat.
(4) The functions of the Fund Secretariat shall be
defined in regulations to be made by the Minister
and shall include
(a) receiving applications for loans and grants
from eligible persons such as, communitybased information and communications
operators;
(b) reviewing those applications and making
recommendations to the Fund Board as to
which applications should be funded;
(c) liaising with other Directorates in the
Authority in processing licences for funded
applications;
(d) providing loan recipients and grantees with
technical and managerial assistance, such
as, resolution of equipment vendor issues
and setting up billing systems;
(e) evaluating
project
performance
and
effecting such actions as may be necessary
to ensure that loan recipients and grantees
meet objectives for network expansion and
provision of service;
(f) enforcing standards of quality of service in
rural and underserved areas set by the
Fund Board;
(g) collecting project assessments and loan
repayments
and
paying
the
loan
repayments into the Fund;
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