The President (2nd from right) being taken through the artistic impression of the project
PRESIDENT NANA Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo on Wednesday cut the sod for the construction of a US$25 million operational head office of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in Takoradi.
The construction of the operational head office of GNPC in Takoradi is a fulfilment of a key manifesto pledge made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the chiefs and people of the Western Region during the 2016 electioneering campaign.
The building complex which would be completed within two years would comprise public spaces for a 300-seater auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria and a business centre on the ground floor.
The upper floors would accommodate private office spaces for GNPC and for lease to prospective tenants.
In compliance with government’s policy of ensuring smart energy efficiency, the office complex is designed with solar ingress and wind direction.
The project would be the first of its kind in the Western Region.
The President indicated that the seven-storey GNPC operational head office complex would be situated on a land area of 11,680 metres square and completed within two years.
He said but for the Covid-19 pandemic the project would have been at an advanced stage. He thanked the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Regional House of Chiefs and the Lands Commission for their tremendous assistance in securing the land for the project.
The President called on the contractor for the project to ensure a timely delivery of the facility and within budget and use the local labour in doing so as had been assured.
Freddy Blay, Board Chairman of the GNPC, said further to the President’s pledge, the GNPC Board took a decision to set up the GNPC Foundation in Takoradi, to spearhead corporate social investment initiatives.
“This was a deliberate strategy to ensure that even though the foundation had a national scope, the socioeconomic, educational and training needs of the people of the Western Region received special focus,” he said.
He assured the President that once the project was completed GNPC staff would move in and begin work.
He indicated that since the GNPC Foundation was established in 2017, it had provided infrastructure to the benefit of Ghanaians across the country.
The President earlier commissioned a modern office complex and hostel facilities for the Western Regional House of Chiefs, constructed and furnished by the GNPC Foundation in Sekondi.
He also inspected and cut sod for the construction of some key gas enclave roads being constructed by the Department of Feeder Roads and the Ministry of Roads and Highways all funded by GNPC.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi