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GNAG asks government for
control of Ahinsan Foundry
Kumasi, Jan. 10, Ghanadot/GNA – The Ghana National
Association of Garages (GNAG) has petitioned the Government
to reactivate the foundry at Ahinsan in Kumasi and to
transfer it to the Association to serve as a training centre
for artisans at the Suame Magazine.
Association said the reactivation of the foundry, which had
been closed down since 2003 after a legal tussle, would
serve as a theoretical training centre for artisans at the
Suame Magazine and give practical training to engineering
students from the Kumasi Polytechnic and Kwame Nkrumah
Univesity of Science Technology.
The foundry was established in 1985 after the property
housing it was confiscated by the PNDC Government from KOWUS
Motors Limited in 1979.
It was established as a joint venture between the SG-SSB
Bank and GNAG to produce machine parts for the agricultural,
timber and the automobile industries.
However, after its de-confiscation, the original owners,
KOWUS Motors, filed a legal suit at a Kumasi High court to
reclaim possession of the property.
The Company won the suit in February 2003 and this forced
the foundry to be closed down in August 2003.
The Government recognizing the importance of the foundry
decided to buy it from the owners and had already paid
800,000 Ghana cedis to acquire the facility.
What is left now is for the government to pay the rent
arrears of 1,200 Ghana cedis a month, which had been
accumulated from 1979 to date in order to assume full
ownership of the property.
Mr Joseph Ofori, Operations Manager of Multi-Billion
Consultancy Services Limited, Consultants to GNAG, who are
facilitating the transfer of the foundry to the Association,
told newsmen during a tour of the foundry on Thursday that
the Association intended to turn the foundry into a modern
technological centre to provide efficient support services
and training to artisans and students.
He said the Association would need about two million Ghana
cedis to reactivate the foundry and bring it to the required
standard to produce not only machine parts but also offer
modern ICT training in the automobile industry.
Mr Benjamin Turkson, Acting General Manager of the Foundry
before its closure, told journalists that the Foundry used
to produce keyways gears, sprockets and other machines parts
for the agricultural, timber and the automobile industries.
A tour of the foundry revealed that production machines and
equipment, including millers; cutters; straightening
machines among other things had been abandoned and had
gathered dust.
GNA
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