The Government has announced plans to extract the large iron and steel deposits and refine them in the country to provide raw materials for automobile manufacturing companies in Ghana.
Ghana has signed agreements with a number of automobile companies to establish showrooms in the country including car manufacturing giants Volkswagen, Sinotruck, Nissan, Renault and Suzuki.
Therefore, Government presented the Iron and Steel Development Authority Bill to Parliament towards the establishment of Ghana Iron and Steel Development Authority for extraction of iron and steel resources.
Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said this when he briefed the media at the closing ceremony of a two-week mineral resources assessment training programme for geological surveyors from eight African countries, in Accra, on Friday.
He said on the passage of the Bill into law by Parliament, the country would have the Ghana Iron and Steel Development Corporation and provide the needed impetus to attract businesses to invest in the extraction of iron and steel.
The Deputy Minister said iron, steel and aluminium were the future metals of the world and therefore the nation should not just end up exporting them like other commodities but add value to them so the nation could earn the required revenue to bolster economic growth.
“We must be ready to provide the automobile companies raw materials to manufacture vehicles to complement each other,” he added.
The Deputy Minister re-affirmed Government’s resolve to diversify the country’s mineral resource-base from traditional minerals like gold, bauxite, manganese and diamond and rather pay attention to largely un-exploited mineral commodities to fast-track national development.
Mr Owusu-Bio said through the support of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), Ghana would soon get a bauxite refinery to refine raw bauxite ore that would enable the nation to pay off the Sinohydro Barter Arrangement with the Chinese firm.
He said government would finance the operations of the Ghana Geological Survey Authority (GGSA) to work efficiently and that it was refurbishing the GGSA’s seismological equipment to function efficiently.
The Ministry had received a request from the GGSA for procurement of new equipment and had forwarded the request to the Finance Ministry for consideration. Mr said the Government was funding the GGSA to undertake a lot of seismic survey on the oil deposits at Akpafu in the Volta Region.
Dr Daniel Boamah, the Acting Executive Director of the GGSA, commenting on the frequent earth tremors experienced in parts of the Greater Accra Region recently, he said the Authority would soon receive solar panel at its seismological stations to monitor seismic activities to advice government accordingly.
