European Union provides houses for Banana Plantation workers

Accra, The European Union (EU) is funding the construction of 224 housing units for workers of Golden Exotics Limited (GEL) with 5.9 million Euros.

The project, which is being undertaken by the contractor, KO and G, is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2018.

This came to light when the European Union Ambassador to Ghana, Mr William Hanna; and the Member of Parliament for Shai Osudoku, Madam Linda Ocloo, paid a working visit to the GEL Banana Plantation, in the Greater Accra Region.

The visit was to inspect the progress of the construction of the housing and social infrastructure site at Kasunya, near Asutsuare in the Shai-Osudoku District.

When completed, it would house about 800 to 1,000 workers of GEL.

The EU funding is being provided in the framework of the Banana Assistance Measures (BAM), which provides financial assistance to facilitate trade between banana-producing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Ghana is one of the 11 countries receiving financial assistance for the banana trade.

The houses would ease accommodation and transportation cost of GEL employees, who now have to commute long distances, thereby saving travel time and costs on one hand and providing decent housing on the other.

In a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency Mr Hanna said: I am pleased to see work progressing well on the new houses for banana workers.

He said providing decent work and working conditions was one of the reasons Ghana’s banana exports obtained the Fair Trade Label.

Mr Hanna said it was also encouraging to see that, one year after Ghana’s ratification of the EPA that producers were investing more in organic production, which gave added value and secured jobs for thousands of workers.

This is an excellent example of sustainable production and consumption in the agricultural sector, he said, in the statement.

Source: Ghana News Agency