GNAG petitions government to transfer Foundry to it

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.