By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has on Tuesday commissioned the Toyota Tsusho Vehicle Assembly Plant in Ghana.
Describing the occasion as a very happy one for him, the Ghanaian people, and for Government’s Industrial Transformation Agenda, Akufo-Addo stated that the plant will be assembling some models of Toyota and Suzuki vehicles in the country.
He said that the Toyota Tsusho’s presence in Ghana has been facilitated by Government’s bold move to develop the Ghana Automotive Development Policy under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry with generous fiscal incentives.
“By assembling, and, ultimately, producing cars in Ghana, the President stressed that new and highly skilled jobs are being created, the use of foreign exchange to import secondhand vehicles will be reduced, and, at the same time, the exports of Made in Ghana cars to other African markets will earn our nation much needed foreign exchange.
“The vision is to make Ghana a fully integrated and competitive industrial hub for the automotive industry in West Africa, and we are very much on course,” he said.
The President continued, “This facility has already offered some three hundred and thirty-four (334) employment opportunities to young Ghanaian graduates from our tertiary institutions across the country, notably from the University of Ghana, the University of Cape Coast, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the George Grant University of Mines and Technology, and some technical and vocational institutions”.
He assured that Government will continue to create the enabling environment to boost the profitability of the emerging automotive sector in Ghana, adding that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is working with other state institutions, such as Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC), to develop locally the required raw material value chains to feed the manufacturing sector of the automobile industry.
In addition to this, the President revealed that Government has also acquired a building complex at the South Industrial Area, in Accra, to be developed as the Ghana Automotive Development Centre, which will, amongst others, serve as a one-stop support destination for the implementation of the Auto Policy, and be a hub for the development of advanced skills for the industry.