UCC-VC cuts sod for the construction of 120 academic offices and 12 labs worth GHC151m

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Johnson Nyarko Boampong,has cut sod for the construction of 120 academic offices and 12 laboratories worth 151 million Ghana Cedis for three colleges in the university. The academic offices worth GHC 63 million will serve as offices for Academic Senior Members of the College of Education Studies (CES) and College of Humanities and Legal Studies (CHLS). The Laboratory design also worth 88 million will also be used by the College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS) and will have 35 lecturers’ offices as well as other offices. Speaking at the sod-cutting of the proposed academic offices for Senior Members of CHLS and CES, Prof Nyarko Boampong indicated that the construction of the project when completed will empower academic staff to do more research to help the university to continue to reign. Professor Johnson Boampong also said the project will help the university to deal with the challenges of inadequate office spaces for its academic staff. “The University of Cape Coast has expanded in size and in terms of human resources. At the moment we have more than a thousand academic staff and over the years we have not been able to add office accommodation for academic staff. So, it became important for the university to plan for the execution of this project. We are happy today that everything has gone through.” He said. He said it is his hope that the university will become more attractive through the completion of the projects so that the university becomes more visible. Meanwhile, at the site for the construction of the proposed Laboratory Design for the College of Health and Allied Sciences, the Vice Chancellor indicated that the site was strategically chosen to ward off encroachers and also for the future establishment of a teaching hospital for the University. "We know that we have the medical school over there and the idea is that if we have the sciences, the pharmacy, and other sciences here, and then a space will be created over there for future construction of the teaching hospital for the University of Cape Coast. "Besides that the land is being encroached … So, this is another way of preventing further encroachment and that is why we are putting the structure here,” he said. The Director of the Directorate of Physical Development and Estate Management (DPDEM), Philip Ntim Owusu spoke to ATLFM NEWS on the details of the two projects at the sideline of the sod-cutting. He explained that the CoHAS building complex is a five storey and has 12 labs and 35 lecturers’ offices together with other ancillary facilities. The contractor selected for this project is Antarctic Construction Limited and he is expected to complete the project within 24 months. Concerning the academic offices for Academic Senior Members of the College of Education Studies and College of Humanities and Legal Studies, he said the project is scheduled to be completed within 18 months. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: