Newmont, gov’t to construct Sunyani-Ntotroso road soon

Good news for the people of Bono and the Ahafo Regions, especially communities along the Sunyani-Ntotroso-Acherensua road as well as those who usually ply that route!

At long last, the road will be reconstructed as a first-class road, thanks to the tireless efforts by the Omanhene of Ntotroso, Barimah Twereko Ampem III and some other chiefs in the Ahafo Region.

In collaboration with some chiefs, the Ntotrosomanhene, who is also the President of the Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, has been engaging top officials of Newmont Africa on how the mining giant would expedite action on the road.

Major concern

“One major concern to most of us is the unmotorable state of the Sunyani-Ntotroso highway. The road is in very bad shape and so we have raised it with Newmont and the government for the way forward. Officials of the Ministry of Finance, Newmont and other development partners are fine-tuning the processes leading to the award of a contract for the road to be reconstructed”, Barimah Twereko Ampem III said at a meeting between officials of Newmont Ahafo South Mine and members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Natural Resources held at Mensah Kumta Village (MKV) near Kenyasi recently.

Members of the Committee, led by its Chairman, Collins Dauda, were at Newmont at the instance of the Ghana Chamber of Mines to familiarize themselves with the operations of the mine and learn at first hand key issues militating its smooth operations.

“We (nananom) have met Newmont officials on the need to reconstruct the road linking Ntotroso to Sunyani and they have responded positively. They have agreed to partner the government through the Ministry of Finance and so we’re hoping that in due time, work will start on that road”, the Omanhene further said, adding that Newmont constructed the Hwidiem-Kenyasi road following a request by Nananom.

“We (nananom) have also asked them to tar the Kenyasi-Ntotroso road. Engineers of the Ghana Highway Authority are in the process of concluding discussions to pave the way for work to begin soon”, he added.

Huge investments

The General Manager of Newmont Ahafo Mine, Alex Kofi Annim, told the Committee that the company will not relent in its efforts at advancing the socio-economic host communities.

He said Newmont has been making huge investments, especially in infrastructural development, in the area, in addition to the numerous sustainable development projects being executed through the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF), the company’s main driver of its Corporate Social Responsibilities.

He said Newmont had completed the construction of the Kenyase-Hwidiem road while work is on-going on a total of 15 kilometres of town roads in Kenyase Number One, Kenyase Number Two, Ntotroso, Gyedu and Wamahinso.

Also, he said, the company will soon begin the construction of the main Kenyase – Ntotroso road.

The General Manager, however, complained that illegal mining remained a major headache for the company and asked for the support of the Committee, the government and all stakeholders to help deal with the situation.

Credit: rbnewhub.com