GOLD FIELDS SOLVES SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN OPERATIONAL COMMUNITIES (PAGE 38, DEC 14)

GOLD FIELDS Ghana Limited (Tarkwa Mine) has completed a number of development projects for 10 rural communities in its catchment area in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality and the Prestea-Huni Valley District in the Western Region in its 2009 financial year.
The projects cost GH¢ 2.8 million.
The communities are Tarkwa, Samahu, Abekoase, Tebe, Huniso, Pepesa, Brahabobom, New Atoabo, Akoon and Awudua.
The projects numbering 26, included the rehabilitation of the Samahu-Pepesa road, sinking of three wells at New Atoabo, Brahabobom and Samahu, provision of ceilings and furniture for existing classrooms at Huniso, Awudua and Brahabobom and the rehabilitation of the Ntakasu bridge.
The mining company has also offered assistance to the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to construct a Geological Engineering Laboratory at Tarkwa, upgraded community centres at Samahu and Abekoase, constructed a link road and bridge for Tebe, rehabilitate the Tebe roads and a community centre at Huniso.
It has so far spent GH¢ 15.2 million on community development projects since the inception of the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation in 2002.
The foundation was established to ensure that the communities in which the company operates reap sustainable benefits from the mine through investment in socio-economic projects.
Speaking at the inauguration and handing over of the projects at Abekoase, the General Manager of Gold Fields Ghana (Tarkwa Mine), Mr Peet van Schalkwyk, said it was the desire of the company to see improvement in the living conditions of residents of these communities and their neighbours.
He said the company was still partnering its contractors to assist in the development of the communities.
In the last financial year, he said, Banlaw Africa Limited, Engineers and Planners (E&P), Sandvik Mining and Construction and Allship Company Limited assisted in various ways.
Mr Schalkwyk expressed the hope that the contractors would continue to assist Gold Fields in the development of its stakeholder communities.
The general manager said the Sustainable Community Empowerment and Economic Development Programme (SEED), a five-year community development plan for its primary stakeholder communities was in the fourth year of its implementation.
The programme, he explained, placed emphasis on building the capacity of the beneficiary communities in order to improve on their economic and social status.
Also, he said, the scholarship scheme instituted in the 2005/2006 academic year for deserving and needy students in the communities to pursue further studies at the vocational, senior high school and tertiary levels of education was being sustained.
He said 166 students had so far benefited from the scholarship scheme and new beneficiaries would soon be selected for this academic year.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said the projects clearly demonstrated the mining company’s commitment to ensuring that communities in its operational area received maximum benefit from its operations.
“Indeed, by the provision of these projects, the company has bequeathed to the communities and the entire Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal and Prestea-Huni Valley District assemblies a lasting legacy which will be enjoyed by generations after the company has ceased to operate in the area, ” he said.
Mr Aidoo urged Gold Fields Ghana and other stakeholders, particularly the municipal assembly, to do a checklist to ascertain the current condition of the projects already provided and how useful or otherwise the projects had been to the respective communities.
The findings, he noted, would be very useful for the review or continuation of the provision of the projects.
He called on parent/teacher associations and school management committees to constantly meet to evolve programmes and strategies that would ensure that what the communities got from their social partners and stakeholders were not only well maintained and used for the purposes for which they were provided, but also ensure that quality standards were maintained long after the social partners had handed them over to the beneficiary communities.
The Apintohene, Nana Kwabena Ango, said Gold Fields Ghana (Tarkwa Mine) had been enjoying a peaceful atmosphere as a result of the mutual understanding and cooperation existing between management of the company and the mining communities.