Restructuring Ghana Investment Promotion Council

Accra (Greater Accra) 17 July 2002- The Ministry of Trade and Industry is taking steps to restructure and strengthen the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre with the aim of making it a one-stop shop. To this end, an investor motivation survey is being undertaken to help the ministry prepare for an investment forum next year.

Mr Kwesi Osei Adjei, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, who was inaugurating an eight-member steering committee of the Government of Ghana (GOG)/UNIDO Integrated Programme in Accra on Tuesday, said results of the survey, would help Ghana to improve upon its investment promotion activities.

The GOG/UNIDO Integrated programme is a joint effort by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the private sector and UNIDO to build capacity for the development of growth-oriented and competitive Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) with due attention to environmental conservation and energy efficiency.

Mr Adjei said the Integrated Programme (IP), which began two and half years ago, was aimed at addressing a number of structural weaknesses and imbalances in the industrial sector. They included investment promotion, policy development, implementation and monitoring, capacity building for industrial competitiveness and networking.

Mr Adjei said the IP intervention was also aimed at helping to improve the economic situation of MSME through a socially and environmentally sustainable industrial development, built on sound policies and strategies for development.

He said it had become necessary to put a steering committee in place to derive maximum benefits from the programme due to the tempo of activity under the IP intervention, which was on the increase. According to him the team would work to improve the image of the country as the gateway to the West Africa Sub-Region.

Members included Mr Abu-Bakar Saddique Boniface, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Chairman, Madam Felicia Boohene, Association of Small-Scale

Industries, Ms Mary-Ann Addo, Ministry of Finance, Mrs Leticia Osafo-Addo, Associaiton of Ghana Industries and Dr Peter Ankrah, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.

The rest were John Napoleon Gbolonyo, Ministry of Environment and Science, Mr Solomon Boateng, National Programme Co-ordinator, UNIDO and a representative of the Private Sector Development Dr Ankrah.

GRi…/

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Ghana Cement Works $8m major investments

Tema (Greater Accra) 17 July 2002-- Ghana Cement Works (GHACEM) is spending eight million dollars on four major investments on Tema and Takoradi plants which include separator on mills three and four, silo, packing machine, elevator and transport systems.

Mr Isaac Attah, Production Manager, who disclosed this to journalists who were conducted round the plant on Tuesday to acquaint themselves with expansion works, explained that the separators would make it possible to produce high quality cement with variable clinker qualities from different suppliers.

Other benefits are silos capacity increase to 3,000 tonnes, electricity savings and better process control, while the new high elevator and transport systems would make it possible to produce different qualities in Tema. Mr Attah said the new packing machine would replace the outdated existing machines, adding the Tema projects were started at the beginning of this year.

The projects have created job for 150 Ghanaians and in addition, equipment and services are procured from the local market. Mr Attah noted that through the investments in the plants, GHACEM has demonstrated its long-term commitment to supply the Ghanaian market with their high quality cement.

Ms. Abena Konadu Agyeman, Communications Manager of GHACEM said the company hopes to produce 32.5 original port land cement, which is widely used and 42.5 which is normally used for sophisticated and stronger high rise buildings. The six million dollar expansion work would further reduce environment impact of the operations of the plant.

She disclosed that work at the Takoradi plant, which will cost 1.85 million dollars for its separator project, would start soon. GHACEM, which has a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of cement is expected to loose about 30 per cent of distribution due to stiff competition posed by WACEM, which has established a production plant at Aflao in the Volta Region and another company, which is to bag imported cement in Tema.

It has 200 permanent employees, and in addition, about 200 permanently engaged through service companies. Scencem a global German cement producer holds 95 per cent shares and the workers five. Among those present were Mr Bjarne Schmidt, the new Managing Director and Mr Castro Telli Dodoh, Human Resource Director.

GRi…/

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