Obuasi (Ash)-Ghana, Oct. 20, GNA – The Obuasi Municipal Assembly is looking at the prospects of mine tourism to boost revenue generation, Mr. Elijah Adansi-Bonah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), has said.
He said mine tourism could provide a plethora of benefits to the Municipality, including job creation and environmental conservation.
The MCE was speaking to the media after receiving a delegation from Essen in the North Rhine Westphalia Region of the Federal Republic of Germany as part of a sister city partnership between the two parties.
The visit follows a similar trip to Essen in 2022 by officials of the Assembly during which they toured the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, which was awarded the designation of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.
Since the final working shift in 1986, Zollverein has been transformed into a prime site for the art, culture and creative sectors, attracting more than two million visitors a year.
Mr. Adansi-Bonah was optimistic that with the rich history of Obuasi regarding the mining sector, the Assembly could leverage on the sector to turn old mine sites into tourism sites to generate revenue for the Assembly.
North Rhine-Westphalia and Ghana have been working together closely for more than 20 years.
In 2007, the engagement was raised to an official level through a partnership agreement between the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
In a renewal of the agreement dated 2016 the governments decided to align the cooperation for the next five years with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On the key lessons learnt from the partnership, Mr. Adansi-Bonah said the Assembly having picked lessons from the City of Essen, had rolled out the ‘Obuasi Green City Agenda’- a bold and aggressive policy targeted at converting all gray areas in the Municipality to greenery environment to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Mr. Nil Ole Haar, the leader of the delegation from Essen, who also heads the Office of the European/International Affairs and Sustainable Development of the City of Essen, said the partnership between the city of Essen and Obuasi was in line with the SDGs, which both cities were pursuing and trying to find common grounds to work together.
“The two cities are involved in city planning, exchanging ideas and developing projects which both cities can benefit from”, he noted
According to him, Obuasi and Essen shared common problems and was hopeful that the partnership and collaboration would enable them find effective solutions to address them.
Abusuapanin Kwaku Ponko III the Chief of Kunka, a suburb of Obuasi, expressed his excitement over the sister city relation between the two cities and implored the leadership of Obuasi to learn lessons from their counterparts by fashioning out how to sustain the economy of Obuasi beyond the Mine.
He appealed to the Assembly to work closely with the German partners to take advantage of the arable lands in Obuasi, which could be used to produce cassava, starch, ginger, coconuts, and other crops.
“Please impress upon our guests to carry our message to the potential investors in Germany.
My doors are always opened for partnership in any areas that will create job opportunities for the youth in Obuasi,” the Chief Added.
