Sod cut for skills development, industrial hub in Cape Coast
Sod has been cut for the construction of a skills development and industrial hub for Cape Coast.
Coastal Auto Tech, a community of engineers at Siwdu garages in Cape Coast and other business professionals in the Central Region have pooled resources together to put up a training centre to add value to skills training in the Central Region.
They have secured land at Mempeasem near Cape Coast for the development of an industrial hub to house the training centre of various crafts.
The area will comprise training centres for mechanical engineers, hairdressers, fashion designers and carpenters, among others.
The facility is expected to complement the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly’s project to relocate the garages from Siwdu to Mempeasem.
At the sod-cutting ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU), Rev. Prof. Joshua Danso Owusu-Sekyere, applauded Coastal Auto Tech for the initiative, saying the project would help efforts to relocate the mechanics and garages from Siwdu to their new site at Mempeasem.
He stated that CCTU was ready to partner Coastal Auto Tech and Cape Coast garages in their innovations and training, to uplift the auto-mechanics skills in the city.
He commended the engineers for the bold initiative, saying it would impact the economy of Cape Coast and the region in the near future.
Collaboration
The Vice Chancellor added that CCTU was ready to collaborate with the managers of the site on completion by sending some students to the garages to acquire practical skills, while lecturers would also be assigned to help in teaching the mechanics.
The Executive Director of Coastal Auto Tech Limited, Dr Ebenezer Ankomah Gyamera, for his part, stated that it was obvious government alone could not take the responsibility of providing jobs, adding that the vision was to be innovative and to change the face of skills in the area.
He said the centre would have ultra-modern technology for mechanical works, a pre-school, bank, fire station, salons and other social amenities.
He indicated that considering the immense attention being given to technical and vocational education and training recently, it was necessary for the management of Coastal Auto Tech to assist the government in providing support and space to training and absorbing products.
Chamber of Commerce
The Central Regional Chairman of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nana Poku Aikins, thanked the management of Coastal Auto Tech for their collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce for accelerated business development in Cape Coast.
He explained that the original land acquired for the garages was 40 acres but said Coastal Auto Tech had also acquired 19 acres in addition to the government’s land.
Nana Aikins said the Chamber would help relocate the garages from Siwdu to Mempeasem, and called on all companies and individuals to partner the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to get this done.
Rev. Felix Kofi Asante Bondoh, Chairman of the National Association of Garages, said the various technical and vocational jobs now required a lot of technological skills and not strength and advised members to constantly learn new trends to improve their skills and trade.