Duffour appeals to car makers

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffour, has urged vehicle manufacturing companies to set up manufacturing plants on this part of the continent.

He made this statement at the handing-over of 149 trucks, trailers and other equipment to Global Haulage Company Limited in Accra by a consortium of banks.

“The time is long overdue for sub-Saharan Africa to have its own vehicle manufacturing plant. I therefore want to suggest to companies to seriously consider setting up manufacturing plants in our sub-region to produce vehicles specifically designed for our environment.

“I want to believe that Renault, a company that has been in Ghana for years, will make up its mind to come to Africa; and when they do, they will have no better place than in Ghana,” he said.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, only South Africa is recognised as a vehicle manufacturing destination, with total annual production under 1million units.

This is partly due to the relatively small size of the region’s automobile market and competition from investment destinations in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Car plants provide thousands of jobs and could possibly raise the continent’s manufacturing capacity.

The Minister lauded the efforts of banks in support of private-sector development.

“I commend Merchant Bank, Ghana Commercial Bank, HFC, National Investment Bank, Intercontinental Bank and Barclays Bank for your support to private sector development in the country.

“I also thank Van Vliet and Renault for your collaboration to make this transaction a success and hope you have accepted my invitation to come to Ghana,” he added.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Joe Gidisu, stressed the need for freight vehicles to eschew overloading, so as to reduce accidents on our roads and also keep the roads in good conditions.

“About 3.6% of roads accidents are caused by freight vehicles, of which 17% are caused by overloading. Research also indicates that if vehicles are not overloaded, road accidents will be considerably reduced,” he said.

The government spent US $271m in the repair of roads all over the country,” he said, saying the ministry is doing everything possible to enforce the Axle Load Law in order to preserve the country’s roads.