The Obuasi East District Assembly has partnered CRISSPAN company, an Obuasi based construction firm to construct a 3-storey 1,080 -bed capacity hostel blocks for the students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Obuasi campus.
The project when completed in the proposed 2-year period will contribute to ending the challenges students face in securing a decent accommodation close to the campus.
Established in 2019, the KNUST-obuasi campus which is the first public tertiary institution in Obuasi has faced challenges with accommodation for the nearly 3000 students of the school with the available hostel facilities provided by the school and private individuals deemed inadequate.
The Obuasi East District Assembly in a move to salvage the situation by providing a convenient accommodation facility for the school decided to partner CRISSPAN company Limited in a public- private partnership for the project.
At the sod cutting ceremony for the first phase of a 3-storey 432 bed hostel facility, the Chief Executive for the Obuasi East District Assembly Hon Faustina Amissah said the initiative was aimed at helping resolve accommodation challenges confronting the school.
She stated that the first phase of the project which will be executed by CRISSPAN company Limited is expected to be completed in 12 months.
Giving a brief history about how the idea of a hostel facility for the Knust-obuasi was conceived, Hon. Amissah said, the Assembly as a major stakeholder decided to step in when it realized that accommodation will become a major challenge with the surge in students population of the school.
” We had to look around to see the appropriate remedies out there. Key to this was the unavailability of land so we decided to pull down some old dilapidated bungalows which AngloGold Ashanti relinquished to the Assembly some time ago”.
She was optimistic that after completion, the project stood the chance of further boosting students population of the school.
According to the Coordinating Dean of the KNUST-obuasi campus Prof Lawrence Darkwa, the hostel facility is welcoming as the school plans to admit more students in the ensuing academic year.
He said the school is working hard to establish a fully-fledged University in Obuasi and this can only materialize once there are more accommodation facilities for students.
Prof Darkwa further suggested that going forward, the school will need investors to come on board to put up more facilities especially accommodation for teachers to complement existing ones.
On challenges facing the school, he mentioned that there was the need to improve the teacher- students’ ratio of the school. He however appealed to government to give the school the financial clearance to recruit more teachers for the school.
The Queen mother of the Akrokerri Traditional Council Nana Serwaa Bruwaa II commended the Assembly for the hostel project labeling it as innovative.
She said ” I am particularly excited about this project and see it as step in the right up because the Assembly has put the land into good use for the benefit of the district”.
Nana Serwaa Bruwaa II was upbeat about the future prospects of the University stressing that, the University will contribute to improving the economy of Obuasi and also creating opportunity for the youth of Obuasi and Adansi to access quality tertiary education.
The contractors for the project CRISSPAN company Limited told the media in an interview that, the company has what it takes to handover a quality project to the school within the stipulated construction period of 12 months for the first phase.