GENERAL NEWS

Ghacem Reacts To Ritefmonline’s Publication

On Thursday, the 17th of December, 2015, ritefmonline carried a story concerning the mining activities of some companies in the Yilo Krobo and Upper Manya Krobo municipalities and the effects their activities purportedly had on the people in the affected communities. Certain constraints however did not permit us to get the other side of the story in order to balance our reportage.

One of the companies mentioned in the story as endangering the lives of the affected communities, Ghacem Limited has issued a rejoinder to our story. We hereby publish unedited the rejoinder as sent by Ghacem Limited:

REJOINDER-RITEFMONLINE

 [ACTIVITIES OF GHACEM KILLING COMMUNITIES IN YILO KROBO AND LOWER MANYA]

Our attention has been drawn to a publication on your website, ritefmonline.org on Tuesday, 22nd December, 2015 with the above headline and wish to react as follows:

  • First of all, the mining activity is not done by Ghacem Limited, but its subsidiary West Africa Quarry Limited (WAQL). We wish to clarify that there are three different mining companies operating in that locality and all of them blast as a means of disintegrating rocks. To single out the activities of WAQL as the cause of cracks in buildings in the area is disingenuous.
  • The Komatsu Excavator machine (shown in the story) is not in WAQL’s Yongwa limestone concession and does not belong to WAQL.
  • In addition, all our environmental parameters such as air, noise and effluent quality, as well as blast induced vibration levels are monitored on regular basis and reported quarterly to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
  • WAQL has for more than five years ceased to use the road connecting Buernya, Odugblase and Klo Begoro. The new haulage road from the quarry to the main road is about 500 meters from the community and cannot be the source of dust pollution to Buernya, Odugblase and Klo Begoro as the article sought to portray.
  • WAQL, a subsidiary of Ghacem Limited which is part of HeidelbergcementGroup, complies with all statutory requirements and possesses valid environmental permit and mining license.
  • Our mining activity is termed “dry mining” and does not use water or chemicals. It must be emphasized that the water found within our concession is rain water, used to suppress dust in the mining area. This same water is used to irrigate seedlings at WAQL’s nursery. There is no water outlet from our concession into any river or stream.
  • We wish to state that WAQL’s activity does not destroy farm crops in the area. All farmers whose crops were affected by our operations have been duly compensated.
  • We have in collaboration with the Municipal Assemblies and Traditional authorities demonstrated our commitment to infrastructure development in the area by constructing;
  • 6 classroom block, 10 seater KVIP, a Head teacher’s bungalow at Klo-Begoro in Yilo Krobo at the cost of GH¢395,000
  • A rural clinic at Oborpa within the Lower Manya Krobo district at the cost of GH¢135,000
  • A three classroom block at Bounye within the Yilo Krobo district at the cost of GH¢145,000
  • These projects were executed with proceeds from a Development Fund, established solely to undertake development projects within our concession area.
  • In addition, WAQL is rehabilitating a 9.392 Km road project at a cost of GHS 163.395.40, from Klo Begoro to Poponya village within our operational area. The project which is expected to be completed in May 2016 will facilitate the transportation of goods and people from one community to the other.
  • Aside this, educational and health institutions in the area continue to benefit from our annual free cement donation to schools and hospitals in Ghana.
  • We have a robust Reclamation Plan to ensure that the land space used for mining is restored to its original state after mining.
  • WAQL through the Quarry Life Award competition, which started in 2011 opened up the Yongwa quarry to students and researchers for research into biodiversity management, innovation and ecological restoration. These studies, some of which have won international awards, have been done with the full participation of the community. This is part of the preparation towards the future closure of the quarry.
  • We have meetings with opinion leaders in the community, the last engagement being in June 2015 and during that meeting there were no complaints from the community of any of the issues raised in the article.
  • We wish to reiterate that we will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure that our operations are conducted in a peaceful, environmentally friendly manner and in accordance with best mining practices.

source: ritefmonline.org

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