Japan Motors has marked the first anniversary of the opening of the Nissan automotive assembly plant in Tema.
“The creation of a sustainable African automotive manufacturing industry is a key pillar of Nissan Africa’s approach to the continent along with our Ambition 2030 plan to ensure that we can be the provider of choice mobility solutions to the continent that is poised to begin finally realising its potential,” Sherief ElDessouky, Nissan Africa Managing Director, said in a statement to mark the anniversary.
Japan Motors’ brand-new plant, which stands on a 22,407sq m site, is the second largest of its kind in the region, but the only one with its own test track and special shower bay.
“The total investment to date has been in excess of US$18-million when the purchase of supplementary equipment, further innovations and working capital are all accounted for,” Japan Motors Managing Director, Salem Kalmon, said.
“It’s been worth every cent. Within the space of a year this plant has become the most visited plant in the region, hosting numerous high-level foreign delegations for the government as well as multiple visits by Ghanaian business leaders, other automotive manufacturers and consumers themselves,” he said.
He said, “This is because this plant was purposely built to assemble motor vehicles, specifically the Nissan Navara, and because of that it is a state-of-the-art facility. A year since the president of Ghana opened this facility, all of us who work here are filled with an immense sense of pride of what we have achieved and continue to do so.”
In just over a year, the plant has produced 600 Nissan Navaras and created 36 brand new highly technical jobs that never existed in the country beforehand, as well as 23 indirect new jobs. The potential is there to increase both jobs and vehicles should the local and the regional market demand it, Mr Kalmoni said.
“In its first year, the plant is now ISO 9001 certified, which sets it even further apart. There is also the potential opportunity for it to begin assembling the highly anticipated Navara single cab,” he said.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
