The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Monday cut the sod for work to commence on a new students’ hostel at the University of Ghana, Legon.
The $64 million project, when completed, will be the largest single expansion of infrastructure at the University of Ghana since its establishment 66 years ago.
The 1,000-capacity facility, expected to be completed in September 2017, will be used by the expanded College of Humanities, and the new Colleges of Education, and Health Sciences.
The University of Ghana entered into an agreement with Africa Integras, a private investment institution, in June this year by which the institution will execute the project on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis for 25 years, after which it will transfer it to the university.
Private sector support
Mr Amissah-Arthur in an address at the ceremony, called for private sector support for public agencies in the country to deliver infrastructure projects to tertiary institutions.
Urging the management of the other universities to continue to explore new ways of improving the conditions of their schools, he said the government had made efforts to encourage the public sector to adopt a private-public-partnership approach to deliver such infrastructure projects.
He decried the difficulty associated with getting people to change from the old ways of doing things to adopting modern and better approaches to solving problems, adding that “the old ways were at a time that government resources were unlimited, hence making it easy to do government projects without the support of the private sector”.
Government’s commitment
Mr Amissah-Arthur reaffirmed the government’s commitment to providing infrastructure for the country’s tertiary institutions in view of the significance it attached to education. He lauded the University for initiating the move with Africa Integras to bring about an expanded facility to the institution and called on the other public tertiary institutions to emulate the example.
University innovation
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, said the university was changing very fast to becoming an intense research institution and that the facilities would pave the way for modernised teaching and learning.
Touching on the new College of Education, Prof. Aryeetey said that facility was intended to adequately prepare students who wished to pursue teaching as a career. According to the Vice-Chancellor, the modern facilities would attract more funding in research to elevate the university to the level of a leading research institution in Africa.
A managing partner of Africa Integras, Ms Andrea Christie Pizziconi, told the Daily Graphic that the construction of the facilities was the company’s single biggest investment in Africa.
Africa Integras invests in the development of education infrastructure, which includes academic facilities, student hostels, faculty housing, and related commercial and leisure facilities for African governments and universities.
