As part of the agreement for the loan which is being provided by the Nordea Bank of Denmark, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is providing a grant of 2.94 million Euros to support the establishment of the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Helen Mona-Quartey, signed on behalf of the government of Ghana while Henrik Brink, Vice President of Nordea Bank signed on behalf of his organisation.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Accra, Mrs Mona-Quartey lauded the government of Denmark for its continuous support to accelerate the growth of the country.

She said Ghana and Denmark have had long standing bilateral relations for more than fifty years, adding that Denmark had remained one of the key development partners of Ghana.

Mrs Mona-Quartey indicated that the loan support from Nordea Bank was another milestone in the process that would lead to a significant improvement in tertiary education sector especially in the area of Science and Technology.”

She said the new laboratory would help to enhance teaching and research at the university and also assist in the training of communities in environmental monitoring and allied services to forestall environmental degradation.

The Deputy Minister entreated the contractor who would work on the project to expedite work to ensure early completion of the project.

The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tove Degnbol in her remark said her country was proud to be associated with the project.

She said, the project, would go a long way to support Ghana in her bid to address environmental degradation and illegal mining.

Ms Degnbol said the bilateral relationship between Ghana and Denmark had changed from aid and grant to commercial loans following the country’s attainment of a lower middle income status.

The Vice Chancellor of UMaT, Professor Jerry S.Y Kuma, in his remark said the journey for the establishment of the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory started in 2009, where proposals on the project was developed and approved by both the Ministries of Education and Finance.

He explained that the laboratory would help the university to conduct research into water, soil, rock blasting to aid the mining companies in the area, adding that the communities in the catchment area of the university would be trained on sound environmental practices to preserve the environment.

By Kingsley Asare