The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor has disclosed that government is determined to revamp the Volta Aluminum Company Limited (VALCO) to help drive Ghana’s Industrialization agenda.
The Minister stated that as part of efforts towards building a robust and effective Aluminum Industry in Ghana, his ministry will in the coming weeks present the ‘VALCO Masterplan’ to cabinet for consideration.
This, he believes, when given the approval, will help to revive the operationalization of VALCO through the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation’s (GIADEC) Integrated Aluminum Industry (IAI) project 4, which is to retrofit, modernize and ensure the expansion of VALCO smelter to improve efficiency and capacity.
According to him, the Project 4 when implemented will increase VALCO’s production capacity from 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of aluminum annually and create employment opportunities for more than 600 people.
Samuel Jinapor indicated that, equipment that have been in use since the early 1960’s will be upgraded. He also iterated the vision of the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in establishing GIADEC and the current development the entity is undertaking.
“GIADEC is on course in giving VALCO a leaf of life”.
Samuel Jinapor
Development of aluminium industry
The Lands Minister stressed that the development and creation of an Aluminum Industry is one of the major pillars for transforming the Ghanaian economy.
“We have moved from the vision of government in making Ghana an Integrated Aluminum Industry into practicalizing the goals set out and once we get cabinet’s approval, we will implement the ‘Master Plan’ to attract the needed investment”.
Samuel Jinapor
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister reassured the Management of VALCO of government’s commitment to assist VALCO to bounce back and operate at its optimum level.
GIADEC has pointed out that it is working closely with VALCO to ensure the realization and execution of project 4 of the Integrated Aluminum Industry (IAI) adding that GIADEC has the mandate to develop and promote an Integrated Aluminum company in Ghana.
According to GIADEC, it will require $6 billion dollars to successfully execute the 4 key projects under the Integrated Aluminum Industry (IAI) and this GIADEC stated that it is determined to work with other stakeholders to achieve.
It is hopeful that with the right investment and the needed capital injection, the entity will take its rightful place in the Aluminum industry.
VALCO, a wholly owned Ghanaian asset remains a strategic and a major corner stone of the Integrated Aluminum Industry (IAI) in Ghana. VALCO is the largest smelter in West Africa and the 4th in Sub Sahara Africa.
GIADEC and VALCO are currently working to give practical meaning to the government’s transformational agenda by leveraging on Ghana’s existing bauxite reserves and the smelting of Aluminum to make the Ghanaian economy an enviable one.
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