Development Archaeologist and Heritage Expert, Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana, Professor Wazi Apoh, has said it is important for the country to make conscious efforts to conserve its heritage sites.

He said well conserved heritage sites, relics, and buildings could become excellent educational resource centres, which would have a positive influence on its foreign exchange earnings and becoming an economic game-changer.

Professor Apoh made these statements when the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, awarded a 155- year-old church building to Fabmon Limited, a construction firm for rehabilitation into a modern relic in Ho.

The rehabilitation work was facilitated by Professor Apoh in collaboration with Reverend Dr. Cyril Fayose, General Secretary of the Christian Council, Ghana, with funding from Gerda Henkel Foundation, Germany.

 Professor Apoh said the project cost 96,000 Euros and would be completed within four months to make the facility become a potent driver for tourist attraction.

The Archaeologist said the facility when completed, would have a reception, printing press, bookstore, museum, archive to contain books about the Church, a library with books to help students undertake their studies.

Professor Apoh said he became interested in adding value to the facility after he brought his students from the Archaeological Department to undertake some archaeological studies on the building.

He called on the Tourism Authority to put all necessary mechanisms in place to ensure that the country's heritage sites and buildings were properly preserved to enable the country to generate foreign exchange through tourism.

The Archaeologist charged scholars, heritage experts, and archaeologists to visit communities with heritage sites and buildings and partner with owners and traditional authorities to renovate them for societal development.

Reverend Dr Seth Senyo Agidi, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana said the building was constructed in 1865 by the Bremen Missionaries, which had touched so many lives.

He said the Bremen Missionaries came to the country in 1847 and started missionary work at Peki, and the building was one of the facilities they used for the seminary work.

“It is Bremen mission house as it was called, was a rallying point for the people. It even became safe havens when people's lives are in danger. It is a place where we look up to the representative of God on earth,” he stated.

Reverend Agidi expressed joy for the renovation work, saying, it would have a positive impact on the lives of the people, the church, and the environment.

He commended Professor Apoh and Dr Fayose for facilitating the process as well as the Gerda Henkel Foundation for their support, and the technical team chaired by Togbe Howusu XII, the warlord of Asogli State.

Togbe Howusu said the technical team would continue to monitor the progress of work to ensure that the work was done qualitatively and within the stipulated time frame.