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.
To this end, the 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 the 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.
GNA
