Over the years, ABG's mines in Tanzania have invested billions of shillings in education, water, health and infrastructure projects aimed at improving the lives of communities living around its mines.
As part of wide-ranging corporate social responsibility programmes, Bulyanhulu gold mine (BGML) recently donated more than 86.4 million/- to Kakola village for the construction of a dispensary and three classrooms, BMGL said in a statement yesterday.
Kakola, the nearest village in Kahama district to the country's biggest underground gold mine, has enjoyed excellent relations with the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine over the years.
Speaking after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the village, BMGL's acting community relations manager, Theophilo Tweve, said the mine would donate 42,707,750/- for the construction of a dispensary and another 43,702,350/- for the construction of three classrooms.
The Kakola Village Chairman, Emmanuel Bombeda, thanked BGML for its continuous support to the community and promised to utilize the money given for the aimed purpose so that the villagers may benefit from the contribution from the mine towards the improvement of their day-to-day lives.
He also praised previous donations made by the mine to the village, such as investments made in water projects to alleviate chronic water woes at the area.
In a similar development, the BGML General Manager, Dennis Hoof, and other officials from the mine on November 3 this year visited a Muslim school under construction near mine, which has been facilitated by donations from BGML’s Muslim and non-Muslim employees through monthly payroll deductions.
The deductions are voluntary for any BGML employees who wish to donate to the cause.
So far, the school construction project has cost a total amount of 62,757,000/-, with two classrooms already built.
One of the classrooms caters for pre-primary school education with a sitting capacity of 25 Kids, while the other classroom accomodates Standard One pupils with a capacity of 45 children.
Speaking during the visit to the school, the BGML General Manager Dennis Hoof congratulated the Muslim school’s pioneers for establishing such a valued project that will brighten the prospects of future generations.
He advised them to cooperate with the BGML Community Relations Department to discuss the Risk Assessment of the project so as to know exactly where they are, where they want to be, how they are going to reach there and what the risks are.
“If you don’t do risk assessment, the risk of failure is higher and the chance of succeeding is lower,” he stressed.
He promised the mine's continued support to the school after an analysis that will show what the priorities are so as to get the school up and running by early January as planned.
One of the shool's developers, Khalfan Kaboza, who is also a BGML employee, thanked the mine's management for visiting the project and for its continuous support to the development of the community.
African Barrick Gold in September announced that it was tripling its community development spending in Tanzania with the launch of the Maendeleo Fund, which will receive an annual contribution of $10 million to fund projects that improve the quality of life in communities where ABG operates.
It will be the largest corporate community development fund in Tanzania, where about 36 per cent of the population lives below the national poverty line.
