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