By Stephen Asante
Kumasi, Sept. 18, GNA – A day’s symposium to scale up stakeholders’ interest in the implementation of the 10-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP), an initiative of the AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) Obuasi Mine, has been held in Kumasi.
The Plan, a social investment strategy for the Mine, spanning 2022-2031, intends to bring sustainable development and growth to the host communities.
The cross-cutting themes range from employment and job creation, technology, innovation, gender and social inclusion to ownership and sustainability.
Mr Eric Asubonteng, the Managing Director, AGA Obuasi Mine, in an address, said the agenda was to create opportunities for the people to be empowered, thereby building a diversified and resilient local economy that does not necessarily depend on mining.
He invited corporate organisations and stakeholders to come on board and partner with the mining company in the implementation of the key components of the project.
Such collaboration, he said, was vital in achieving the overall objectives of the Plan in all spheres of the people’s lives – education, skills and infrastructural development, industrialisation, agriculture, entrepreneurship, sanitation and hygiene.
According to the Managing Director, the mining company had over the years rolled out human-centred initiatives and various interventions to transform the lives of the people in line with its corporate social responsibilities.
Following the commencement of the Obuasi Redevelopment Plan in 2018, the Mine developed a Social Management Plan (SMP) to drive its social investment for the period 2019-2021.
“As the SMP ended in 2021, consultations were carried out, culminating in a longer-term plan, keeping in mind the longer life of mine, and the need for continuity in sustaining community support and social license to operate,” Mr Asubonteng observed.
Giving an outline of the SEDP, Mr Emmanuel Baidoo, Senior Manager in charge of Sustainability, AGA Obuasi Mine, indicated that its implementation was aligned with the business sustainability and performance of the company.
Consequently, the initiative had been built into the annual business plan of the Mine for budgeting purposes, he stated.
Mr Joseph Asibi Bashir, Obuasi Municipal Planning Officer, gave the assurance that the decentralised departments would provide the needed support to realise the noble objectives of the SEDP.
GNA