Government has pledged to inaugurate an Automotive Industry Development Council in the Country. According to government, the Council will provide guidance for the development of the auto industry in Ghana.
With plans of making Ghana an automotive hub, membership of the council will primarily consist of “assemblers and all other industry stakeholders, including used cars and spare parts dealers, and components manufacturers”.
The Ghana Automotive Development Policy and Programme, under the Ministry of Trade and industry in 2020 granted existing and new automobile companies’ special incentives to support local vehicle assembly.
Vehicle manufacturers such as Kantanka Automobile Company Limited doubled its production capacity to serve the local and the African market as a result of the Policy.
Also, Sinotruck of China, one of the global leaders in the manufacturing of trucks, commenced production of heavy-duty trucks through its local partners, Zondac Tech Ghana Limited.
Additionally, Volkswagen already commenced commercial production whilst Toyota and Nissan completed their initial preparations to establish assembly facilities in the first half of 2021.
Government has also indicated that there are ongoing discussions between the Ministry and other global auto companies including KIA, Hyundai, Isuzu and Changhan.
Ministry of trade to solidify automotive operations in Ghana
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has promised to continue to support the budding auto industry to enable them solidify their operations in the country.
As part of the efforts to develop the auto industry in general, an automotive manufacturing support centre is being established in Accra with a satellite office in Kumasi.
The centre will provide training and skills development of technical standards, facilitation of investments for the industry, and vehicle financing to support the development of the industry.
Automotive Industry Development
The Government of Ghana, as part of its transformational agenda has identified Vehicle Assembly and Automotive Components Manufacturing as a strategic anchor industry to be facilitated and supported as part of the Ten Point Plan for industrial development.
As a result of this positive signal, Ghana is attracting investment in vehicle assembly from leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and investment partners, with positive projections of spill-overs into local manufacturing.
To provide opportunities for higher value addition and highly skilled employment, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has developed a comprehensive package of incentives and policy measures to support the establishment of an automotive assembly and component manufacturing industry, as a strategic anchor of industrialisation and a new pillar of growth in Ghana.
Fundamentally, the objectives of the policy are to establish a fully integrated and competitive industrial hub for automotive manufacturing in collaboration with the private sector. It also plans to generate highly skilled jobs in automotive assembly and the manufacture of components and parts, with spill over effects into other sectors of the economy.
An asset-based vehicle financing scheme for locally manufactured vehicles to ensure affordability for vehicle buyers will also be undertaken the policy.
The Ministry of Trade equally pledges to improve balance of payments through competitive import substitution and export market development. This will thereby improve vehicle safety and environmental standards.
It will also transform the quality of the national road transport fleet and safeguard the natural environment.
