According to the National Cathedral Secretariat, the sum to be collected for the project’s development has been increased from $250 million to $350 million.
The Secretariat announced in September that the additional $100 million is anticipated to be kept in an endowment fund to guarantee the availability of continuous funds to accommodate cathedral-related activities.
He went on to say that the project’s management aim to put in place safeguards that would prevent them from relying on foreign funding to run the facility.
Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of the Secretariat, said in an interview, during a symposium on the project that contributions to the construction continue to grow, with a recent donation of approximately GH200,000 from the SDA Church.
He said that they want to raise the extra funds before the edifice is finished.
“[We thought that] Instead of looking up to others to give us grant to run the program, beyond the cost [of the structure], can we add about a $100 million just to ensure that we have resources in perpetuity,” he said.
“Normally for the endowment, you invest it, and you only use the interest so if we raise $100 million, every year, based on the interest, we will have some money… That is the target we have set for ourselves… We want to insist that, it is possible to do things differently. $250 million is for the building and the $100 million is for the endowment fund that will allow us to run this in a very progressive way,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah says the architect who designed the cathedral, Sir David Adjaye, is not in support of LGBTQ+ activities as being speculated.
Concerns were raised over his apparent support for LGBTQ+ activities when he signed a petition seeking respect for the rights of LGBTQ+ persons in Ghana in March of this year.
But the CEO of the Secretariat says the architect is only against the assault of members of the community following the closure of an LGBTQ office in Accra.
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