Kumasi, Aug. 9, GNA - The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), on Monday, presented a cheque for five million cedis in support of the construction of the KNUST Student Representative Council (SRC) Hostel. The three-storey Hostel project, initiated by the SRC in 2000 and estimated to cost about 12 billion cedis, has a capacity for 1,000 students.

The first phase, comprising 20 rooms, which is being undertaken by K and H Construction firm at the cost of about 1.4 billion cedis, is to be completed by the end of this month.

Presenting the cheque in Kumasi, Mr Felix K. Karikari, branch Manager of the KNUST GCB said the donation was in line with the policy and tradition of the bank to assist in the development and improvement of educational programmes in the country.

He said the donation also confirmed that the GCB was not only concerned with business but also with social developments and initiatives in its areas of operation and to the society at large. Mr Karikari gave the assurance that the bank would continue to lend support to the SRC to ensure that the project was fully implemented. Mr Thomas Nyarko Ampem, President of the KNUST SRC, who received the cheque, commended the GCB and all other donors for the support they had given towards the project.

He said the Bank's donation had brought the total amount of monies received from various donors this year to 100 million cedis. Mr Ampem said though the students were funding the project through contributions, it was not enough and therefore appealed to philanthropists, institutions and groups to assist them to swiftly execute the project to help reduce the acute accommodation problem on campus.