Elijah Adansi Bonah (right) receiving the cheque from Brett Thompson of AGA
OBUASI Municipal Assembly has received
GH¢250,000 from AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) to support renovation works on
infrastructure for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST),
to open a new campus at Obuasi.
The donation is a counterpart funding to
renovate the northern assets of the mining company earmarked for the KNUST
campus in the municipality.
AGA, after consolidating its operational
surface footprint to the south section, released its office complexes and
residential properties at the north mine to support the establishment of a
university for which Government says will help boost the local economy.
The project, which is a joint initiative
of AGA, the Municipal Assembly and the university, has begun with the school
expected to start in September this year.
AGA Head of Operations, Brett Thompson,
who made the donation on behalf of the company, said the move formed part of
AGA’s commitment in seeing to the plan for the establishment of the university
campus executed.
According to him, the mining company
mooted the idea when management realized properties at the north mine section
had become redundant to the Obuasi mining operations for which Government
approved the proposal and subsequently formed a committee to execute the plan.
Mr Thompson stated that the committee
determined the cost of renovation to be GH¢400,000 and the Municipal Assembly
had only GH¢150,000 available for the project, and AGA therefore decided to counter
fund it by donating the GH¢250,000 as part of its corporate social
responsibility.
The Obuasi Municipal Chief Executive
(MCE), Elijah Adansi Bonah said funding from the AGA would help the Assembly to
realize the university dream, which would help build Obuasi’s competitiveness
and local economy.
According to him, the university campus would support improvements in the business environment and build capacity for investment attraction and retention in the city.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Obuasi
