Engineers urged to develop sustainable home-grown solutions
Engineers have been urged to develop sustainable home-grown solutions that will impact positively on the development of the country, particularly the construction industry.
The Director of Works at the Ministry of Works and Housing, Thomas Atteh Donkor, said “we must not lose sight of the fact that issues of engineering and technology are mostly needed, especially at a time when we are looking for sustainable development in the areas of climate change, housing and infrastructure, electrification, communication and plumbing”.
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Mr Donkor was speaking at the induction of 188 engineers, including six fellows, into the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Speaking on the theme: “Responsible engineering practice: The bedrock for sustainable development in Ghana and beyond”, Mr Donkor said engineering and technology were crucial in facilitating the development of any country.
He said the economic crisis in the country presented members of the IET the opportunity to come up with engineering solutions that would drive the economy for the betterment of the people.
Significance
The President of the IET, Henry Kwadwo Boateng, emphasised the significant role engineers played in the growth of various sectors of the national economy.
For instance, he said, engineers could contribute significantly to the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) through clean water and sanitation, availability of sustainable energy sources and the creation of strong and resilient infrastructure.
“Man has continuously destroyed the earth handed over to us, sometimes for selfish reasons. This is why the UN has identified the 17 SDGs with the hope of making development more sustainable,” he added.
Mr Boateng expressed concern over the destruction of roads by some communication service providers who usually cut through the roads to lay cables when they could use simple technology to achieve their objective.
He urged members of the institute to work together and also attend their annual general meetings regularly as ethical engineering practitioners with focus on best practices.
Scholarship
The institute awarded scholarships to four female engineering students from some universities in the country.
The beneficiary students were Gifty Darko, Annie Andoh and Millicent Eshun, all of the Takoradi Technical University (TTU), and Priscilla Aboagye of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.
The scholarship covers tuition fees for the entire period of their stay in school.
They were also presented with brand new laptops.