Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and MP for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah has commended B5Plus Steel Company for embracing the One District One Factory by commencing a steel company that promises to be the biggest steel manufacturing company in Africa.
He noted that the initiative is inspiring particularly as it frees government off the load to splash millions of dollars on the importation of steel. And that it will also help reduce import activities of investors within the steel industry.
Delivery the keynote address during the sod-cutting ceremony of the new steel factory at Lorpleku Village, at Dawhenya, Mr. Ahenkorah stated that every year, as a country we import between 200, 000 and 300, 000 metric tons of steel into the country.
Therefore, if the new company is able to produce even about 50, 000 metric tons, it will not only create jobs to the teeming youth around and beyond but also create a great source of import substitution.
B5Plus is a steel company that has its headquarters in Ghana and a conglomerate of business operations renders services such as manufacturing, fabrication, and delivery of iron and steel within the West Africa Sub-Region.
The Minister currently is in talks with the Energy Ministry, CEO of B5Plus, Mukesh Thakwani and the Electricity Company of Ghana to supply a 100 megawatt of power to the factory. In seeing through the One District One Factory nationwide, Government has committed GHC 2.5 billion to it.
He openly doubted their ability to carry out the initiative across the 254 districts by the end of their 4year tenure but maintained that they would build factories in the majority of the districts.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of B5Plus, Mr. Mukesh Thakwani, submitted that per the establishment of the new steel company that covers an arable land of 100 acres, they stand to become the net exporter of steel.
He also bemoaned the protracted land litigations that have bedeviled the Ghanaian land system and in the long run causing investors to develop apathy and finally discontinue whatever investment they are embarking on. Thus, he called on the government to critically address the issue.
And in response, Mr. Ahenkorah mentioned that Government is rolling out the land registration system that is purely digitized to correct the challenge.
He, however, called on the district assemblies and traditional authorities to resolve the land issues and as well release lands to investors for any other developmental projects.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Patrick Ofoe Nudzi