Goldfields Foundation reconstructs 10.4 km Samahu-Pepesa road

A SOD cutting ceremony has been performed for the re-construction of a 10.4 kilometer bitumen surfaced road linking Samahu to Pepesa in the Prestea-Bogoso Municipal Assembly.
The scope of work includes construction of drains and culverts along the road.

The road, sponsored by Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) at a cost of GHC63 million is expected to be completed in two years.

When completed, it is expected to aid the transformation of economic activities in the area like Pepesa, Huniso, Semahu and Abekwase.

GFGF is sponsoring the reconstruction of the 10.4 kilometer road, after its recent ambitious transformational and sustainable economic empowerment project, launched at the community by the Foundation.
Named ‘ECOPALMS’, a community owned oil palm seedling production enterprise where about 500 farmers drawn from the area are expected to benefit.
With support from the community, who gave out land for the ECOPALMS project, GFGF invested an amount of GHC180m covering land development, seed procurement and others.

The road reconstruction would aid easy transportation of the palm fruits when harvested, a reason the road is undergoing re-construction.

Present at the sod cutting ceremony included; Nana Adarkwa Bediako III, Gyasehen of Apinto, Nana Nyamikeh, Bekoase chief, Nana Yaa Damoah, Hunniso Queenmother, Nana Kwabena Siaw Sekyi, Development and Community Affairs Manager, Abdel Razak Yakubu, GFGF Executive Secretary, Wisdom Cudjoe (MP), Dr. Matthew Ayeh, MCE, Patrick Asmah, Assembly Member of the area, among other dignitaries.

Nana Kwabena Siaw Sekyi, Sustainability and Community Relations Manager of the mine alluded to the fact good relationship enjoyed by the mine had helped to shape its operations.

The mine, he said, intends to improve upon everything it does for the communities in the area and that they have so far expended $70 million on infrastructural projects.

Abdel Razak Yakubu, Executive Secretary for the Foundation said for years, the Foundation had been doing spots improvement on the road.

This time round, the Foundation decided to reconstruct the whole stretch.  This, he noted, was a testament of the mine’s commitment to community development and expressed the hope that, the resources being channelled would open economic activities in the area.

Nana Adarkwa Bediako, Gyasehene of Apinto, conceded that most of the infrastructure development projects in terms of schools and health facilities were built by GFGF.

“When companies come to our environment or communities like ours, we expect them to contribute to the development”, he said, adding that he was particularly interested in the road re-construction and new things the Foundation was doing.

“They’ve taken their steps to do bold development projects like roads. We know in the past, most CSR contributions from organizations have been on small, small projects. It was very, very difficult to have organisations taking up a project that we usually expect the government to do, like roads”.

Describing the re-construction as a bold step, Nana Adarkwa said “we need to commend GoldFields for this particular work. We saw the development of the Tarkwa Damang Road. It was a major one. It was the first of its kind to be done by any Foundation in Ghana.”

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