The Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, has conveyed government’s resolve to develop a framework which will advertently boost automotive and component manufacturing within the country.
Speaking at the launch of Japan Motors new Nissan assembling plant in the country, he posited that, albeit government cannot impose the siting of facilities on investor, government will readily play their parts and collaboratively work with them.
“You cannot dictate to investors where they site their facilities in this industry, but we know that the global practice has been that government also provides industrial lands, industrial space, and enclaves that allow manufacturers and investors to cluster so that they can reinforce each other’s production of vehicles and parts”.
“And so as part of this framework, we are going to develop a major industrial enclave for automotive manufacturing and then also for component manufacturing.”
As part of efforts to advance Ghana’s automotive industry to serve both native and the African market, the General Manager responsible of Sales and Marketing at Japan Motors, Amine Kabarra, on his part, extensively addressed the issue of pricing, noting that it will largely be informed by policies drawn by government.
“In terms of pricing, I think obviously, it would be impacted by the general automotive policy that the government is intending to implement so all new cars that will be imported directly from other factories around the world will be treated with high duty else those who are imported to be built locally here will have a lot of reductions and even zero taxes on them.”
Vowing to donate the first assembled Nissan pick-up to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, to support practical education, the Managing Director of Japan Motors, Salem Kalmoni, lauded them for their recent ranking in Africa.
“To show our commitment to cooperate and support technical education, and given this auspicious occasion, I am pleased to announce that Japan Motors and Nissan will be donating the first assembled Nissan pick-up to the premier Science and Technology University in Ghana, KNUST. We would like to congratulate them on being recently ranked as first university in Ghana and 12th in Africa. We will be donating this pick-up to their Mechanical Engineering department with the proviso that the vehicle be used for learning and training purposes only, and not as transport”.
President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, this year, unveiled the first Volkswagen vehicle to be assembled in Ghana, following the establishment of the VW assembly plant in Ghana.
At the unveiling ceremony, held at the Kempinski Hotel, President Akufo-Addo expressed his delight at the decision taken by Volkswagen “to assemble a number of its brands right here in Ghana, not only for domestic use but also for the West African market”.
According to President Akufo-Addo, there were many who expressed misgivings about the feasibility of such an assembly plant being established in Ghana.
“Two years on, we have confounded the doubting Thomases, and I am happy to be here this morning to launch, officially, the first Volkswagen vehicle that has been assembled in our country. It is a good day for Mother Ghana”.
The President assured Volkswagen Ghana of Government’s continued support to the company in diverse ways to ensure the sustainability and profitability of this venture in Ghana.
