The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO), the development unit of Suame Magazine, has led mechanics at Suame to manufacture chain links to service the mining industry. The chain links, hitherto imported by the mining companies form a key component of the machinery used in the transport of raw materials. The Daily Graphic says when it visited the workshop; the artisans were busily working on offers from the Ghana Bauxite Company (GBC) at Awaso in the Western Region. SMIDO has established a workshop at Suame Magazine, which it intends to turn into a major chain link manufacturing factory. Mr Kwabena Boateng, Manager of the SMIOO Chain Link Workshop said the mining companies he had approached so far had expressed satisfaction with their innovative products in terms of quality and time of delivery. He said their activities were not limited to the chain links but they hope to expand their capacity to manufacture as many types of equipment that were currently imported to service the mining industry. Speaking with the Daily Graphic, Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, the consultant to SMIDO, indicated that the chain link project was part of the planning process towards the integration of Suame Magazine into the major economic sectors of the country. He noted that the prospects of building a modern industrial village for Suame Magazine would remain a tourist exercise, if it were not consciously planned to service the needs of the industrial sectors of the country. According to him, the best social corporate responsibility role the mining companies could play in the country would be to support the development of the largest informal sector of Suame Magazine, which serves as a source of livelihood for many young people in the informal sector. He said the current initiative to build a modem Industrial Village for Suame Magazine would be given a significant boost if the mining companies showed interest in Suame Magazine's products to generate income to support the project. Source: Daily Graphic