Sikkens expands services to the northern sector

Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 3-5-99

A new office, shop and training centre for Bamson Company, local agents of AKZO Nobel Sikkens car paints and Sandtex house paints, to manufacture and sell their products for the northern sector of the country was commissioned in Kumasi at the weekend.

Work on the second phase of a workshop, shopping mall and two spraying booths will commence in June and be completed by the end of the year.

Mr Kwame Ofosu-Bamfo, managing director of the company, who announced this in Kumasi, said AKZO Nobel Sikkens of Holland had donated a spraying booth and equipment worth about 120 million cedis to the Kumasi centre to facilitate its training programme.

Sprayers, he said, can avail themselves of the facility after paying a token fee.

Mr Bamfo said the company in Holland is researching into the introduction and marketing of environmentally friendly products such as water-borne paints.

Since 1986, the company has, in collaboration with Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI), organised a training scheme for sprayers, mixing operators, technicians and workshop managers nation-wide.

Mr Kwabena Kyere, Deputy Minister of Education who commissioned the offices, said the company, in collaboration with the KTI and the Accra Training Centre, will provide training for about 500 sprayers from the two centres in Kumasi and Accra annually.

This would assist the country's education system by providing employment opportunities for the youth in the northern sector, he said.

The Deputy Minister called on the company to forge closer collaboration with artisans at Suame Magazine to promote healthy and safety principles at factory, garage, and workshop premises to enable them to reduce medical expenses.

GRi../