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… Set to launch National Automotive Policy
Emmanuel Yartey
Ghana has taken a bold step towards providing the much needed raw materials for the various automobile assembly plants coming up not only in the country but across the West African sub-region. This is in line with the government’s new orientation of adding value to the country’s natural resources in order to maximise economic growth.
The Ghana Government recently resolved to extract the nation’s large iron and steel deposits and refine them locally to provide raw materials for automobile manufacturing companies operating within the West African country.
This progressive economic decision taken by the government is a watershed in Ghana’s journey towards economic emancipation after the first Republic under the country’s visionary president, Dr.Kwame Nkrumah.
Already, Ghana has entered into agreements with a number of automobile companies with the view to establishing assembling plants in the country, including auto giants such as Volkswagen, Sinotruk, Nissan, Renault and Suzuki.
To show commitment to its promise, the government recently presented the Iron and Steel Development Authority Bill to Parliament to give the concept full legal backing for the establishment of Ghana Iron and Steel Development Authority for extraction of iron and steel resources.
Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu – Bio, says when the Bill is passed into law by Parliament, it will pave the way for the country to have the Ghana Iron and Steel Development Corporation which shall provide the needed impetus to attract businesses in the extraction of the nation’s large deposits of iron and steel.
It is significant to note that iron, steel and aluminium are the future metals of the world and so Ghana should not just concentrate on exporting them in their raw state like it does with other commodities but begin to add value to them to enable the country to maximise revenue for economic development.
According to Owusu – Bio, “We must be ready to provide the automobile companies raw materials to manufacture vehicles to complement each other.”
The sense of pragmatism being exhibited by government in such international agreements is to find expression in its preparedness to launch a National Automotive Policy soon to guide and regulate Ghana’s new automotive industry.
On the new Policy, Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo – Addo, said, “…The National Automotive Policy will spell out the terms and conditions and incentive packages for participating in Ghana’s new automotive Industry which will also apply to local automobile companies.”
According to him, “When the exports of cocoa, gold, timber, oil, and other natural resources, in their raw form, account for over 80 per cent of our export revenue, then we know we have a problem we must urgently address, because raw material producing and exporting economies find it difficult to deliver on a sustainable basis, wealth and jobs for their people, and enhance their living standards.
“The greatest aspiration any of us could hope for is the realisation of the investment in the collective vision of Ghana becoming an export – oriented economy, driven by industrial production.”
A report by PwC, an international consultancy firm, says that global auto industry mergers more than doubled to an all – time high of US$ 97.5 billion in 2018 which started from a year earlier, and it was driven by mega – deals in the automotive parts sector.
