Government to guarantee loans for small-scale industries
Tamale (Northern Region) 30 January 2002 - Cotton companies operating in the Northern Region could not export cotton this year because of low production and poor quality of the crop.
Mr. Salla Spati, Managing Director of Nulux Plantation Limited, one of the leading cotton companies in the region said in Tamale on Monday, that his company exported 400 tonnes of lint cotton out of a total production of 1,166 tonnes in 2000 and 2001 season while 766 tonnes were processed for local industries.
"We can't make any export this year because the cotton is bad. The farmers have added water to the cotton to increase weight to maximise profit," he said. Mr. Spati was briefing the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Export Promotion Council, Mr. Edward Boateng, on the operation of the company.
He explained that by that practice the farmers had ended up spoiling the fibre and seeds of the cotton. "We are now compelled to import cotton seeds at a higher cost for the farmers to plant during the coming cropping season", he said, adding, "these monies could have been used to provide social amenities for some of the communities in which we operate".
Mr. Spati alleged that some farmers were diverting cotton and selling to other cotton companies that did not pre-finance them. Others, he said, were also in the habit of given out all their farm produce to a family member to sell on their behalf to avoid their obligation to the companies that pre-financed them.
There are 11 cotton companies operating in the Northern Regions alone. He described most of them as "portmanteau companies" whose duties were to encourage farmers to divert cotton.
This scramble for cotton, he said, had been a long-standing wrangle among the companies and should be discouraged. Mr. Spati appealed to district assemblies and chiefs to assist in checking the diversion of cotton and inputs by farmers, by enacting bye-laws to curb the practice.
He called on the government to set criteria for the establishment of cotton companies, which should include equipment and gunnery facilities to help check the influx of "fake" companies.
GRi.../
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Tema (Northern Region) 30 January 2002 - The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has since the end of December initiated measures to shed off 70 per cent of its stevedoring operations at the ports of Tema and Takoradi to seven private companies.
They are the Atlantic Port Services (APS), Speedline Stevedoring Company (SSC), Carl Tiedemann Stevedoring (CTS), Golden Gate Stevedoring (GGS), Dashwood Shipping Agency, Ordart Stevedoring and Express Maritime Services (EMS).
Mr Ben Owusu-Mensah, Director-General of the GPHA, who on Tuesday mentioned this to GNA in an interview in Tema, announced that the Authority was holding 30 per cent of the stevedoring in trust for the people of Ghana. He said the licence of EMS would be withdrawn by next week if it failed to fulfil conditions for renewal.
Mr Owusu-Mensah said apart from the payment of 10,000 dollars, the EMS had not been able to provide bank guarantee of 500 million cedis and performance insurance bond of 200,000 dollars, adding that the bank guarantee was formerly pegged at one billion cedis.
He explained that the government ordered the re-instatement of Ordart Stevedoring, whose licence was withdrawn a couple of years ago. The GPHA had also given stevedoring operations licences for bulk imports and exports to GHACEM, Ghana Manganese Company and Ghana Bauxite Company.
The Director General further explained that the granting of licences to the seven companies was in pursuance of the port reform policy, aimed at encouraging private sector participation in the provision of services at the ports and said cargo handling was one main target.
Previously GPHA was handling 65 per cent of services while APS had 15 per cent, with Speedline and EMS taking 10 per cent each.
Mr Owusu-Mensah said the 30 per cent, which was being held in trust, would be given out to the private sector between July and December this year, to enable GPHA to become the 'landlord', who would be responsible for planning and managing the ports.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January 2002 - Ghana Rubber Products Limited, a rubber sandals manufacturing company, on Tuesday appealed to the government to take immediate steps to save it from total collapse by halting smuggling of Nigerian and Ivorian beach sandals into the country.
Mr Adnan Fakhry, Managing Director, told journalists during a press tour of the factory in Accra that the smuggling of rubber sandals into the country was reducing the operations of the company and making it highly uncompetitive.
He said the company had the potential of employing more than the 250 workers, including casual labourers, "but we are unable to do so because of the huge influx of rubber products that is smuggled into the country".
"This also makes it impossible for us to compete fairly in the market and survive."
The press tour was also to make known obstacles facing the company in its export drive.
He said because of such problems, the company had since the late 1980s been forced to stop the production of jungle boots and canvas shoes while production equipment are lying idle.
Mr Fakhry said the company, established 40 years ago, used to run three shifts a day but now runs only one shift. "We fear that if urgent steps are not taken by the authorities to protect our well established local industry, Ghana Rubber Products Limited may be forced to further curtail our production in the coming months."
He urged the government to ensure that the industry is saved from total collapse so that "our workers, linkages with rubber producers and small-scale shoemakers in the country can be given a future and hope."
Mr Fakhry also appealed to the government to consider the following measures on priority basis: The Special Tax of 20 per cent on imported beach sandals that was reduced to 10 per cent recently should be restored to the original figure.
The import duty of 10 per cent being levied on the company's imported raw materials should be waived as a special case. The company currently exports only to Togo because the other countries in the West African sub-region are not willing to operate according to the ECOWAS Protocols.
He said the problems of the company have been made known to the Association of Ghana Industries, Ministries of Economic Planning, Co-operation and Regional Integration and Trade and Industries, "but we are yet to see any changes."
GRi../
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Takoradi (Western Region) 30 January 2002 - The government would soon introduce a new guarantee loan scheme to enhance the rapid and sustained growth of small and medium scale industries to give real meaning to its golden age of business proposal.
Mr Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said under the Ghana Investment Fund that would be one of the 'friendly loan facilities' the government would guarantee long and short term loans with low interest rates to boost the activities of local industries.
He said this while inspecting some private companies and government institutions in Takoradi on Monday at the start of a three-day tour of the Western Region. The tour formed part of a nationwide programme to familiarise himself with the operations of private companies with the view to formulating efficient and sustainable policies to enhance their growth.
Mr Boniface urged industrialists to take advantage of the government programmes to expand their businesses and create more employment avenues. He stressed the need for such companies to make conscious efforts to improve the quality of their products to enable them to remain in business in the face of competition.
"We should also make sure that we develop standards so that we are not thrown out of business due to external competition'', he advised. Mr Boniface said the government was determined to alleviate poverty and create wealth by embarking on stabilisation policies to generate employment by improving the private sector.
At the Ghana Rubber Estate Limited Factory at Agona, Mr Nti Adu-Bonsarfo, Finance and Administrative Manager, told the Deputy Minister that, the price of processed natural rubber on the world market was at its lowest in 50 years.
He said this was causing liquidity problems for the company, in which the government had 25 per cent shares and provided employment for about 700 people including plantation out-growers.
Mr Adu-Bonsarfo said 95 per cent of processed natural rubber produced by the company was exported to Europe and called for assistance to enable it to improve upon its operations.
The Deputy Minister inspected part of the 15,000 hectares of the plantation of which about 1,785 hectares belonged to out-growers. He called for assistance to check galamsey operations, which, he said, was on the increase and adversely affecting the work of the company.
GRi../
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