Minister Commends GHACEM For QLA Project

The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Sherry Ayitey has commended leading cement manufacturer, GHACEM for embarking on a project which would help in the effective regeneration and management of biodiversity.

Ms. Ayitey said the example by GHACEM signified the exceptional importance that the country’s foremost manufacturer attached to its work and more importantly the welfare of communities where they operate.

She was speaking at the maiden QLA awards ceremony held on Monday at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, where three winners were adjudged out of five finalists.

The Quarry Life Award Campaign (QLA), which has been on-going for about a year now, is a global competition organized by Heidelberg Cement (HC) Group, the majority shareholders and owners of GHACEM Ltd, to source ideas towards the effective regeneration and management of biodiversity in all its mining sites across the globe.

Paul K. Nsiah, a 37-year-old lecturer at the Sunyani campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), won the ultimate prize of GH¢12,000 with his project on “The potentials of pennisetumpurpureum as a biological geotextile stabilizing slopes to promote biodiversity in reclaiming quarry sites.”

The second-award winner, Japheth Roberts took home GH¢7,200 with his project titled, “Impact of quarrying on biodiversity: A case study of the Limestone Quarry at Akosombo,” while Vivian Arthur, who placed third, won GH¢3,600 with her project, “Topsoil characterization for sustainable rehabilitation work at the Akosombo quarry to promote biodiversity.”

Ms. Ayitey urged other corporate institutions to emulate the example of GHACEM Limited to safeguard Ghana’s natural resources.

Present at the event were top executives of GHACEM and the QLA.

They included Daniel Gauthier, Chairman GHACEM Board and Management Board Member Heidelberg Cement Group, Germany; Jean-Marc Junon, Chief Operating Officer of Heidelberg Cement Africa; Akhilesh Gupta, Director of Manufacturing and Engineering HTC; Jens Wold, Quarry Manager GHACEM/ West Africa Quarries Limited; Daniel Amlalo, Ag Executive Director EPA and Dr. Erasmus Owusu, a National Jury member.

In his speech, the Managing Director of GHACEM, Morten Gade, congratulated the winners for their fantastic research work on promoting biodiversity, indicating that GHACEM would implement the “fantastic creative ideas put before us by these noble researchers and students of ecology and land reclamation.”

He noted that the QLA initiative testified that indeed the Heidelberg Cement (HC) Group had “set itself apart from its contemporaries of major, international cement manufacturers.”

Mr. Gade expressed gratitude to the jury and coordinators of the QLA, especially Joseph Mensah, the National Coordinator and Benny Fiifi Ashun communications coordinator for their immense contributions that had propelled the success of the maiden competition.