The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mining, George Mireku Duker, has revealed that the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) is lucrative and opened to investment from interested stakeholders.
He indicated that he has entrusted the Management and Staff of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) with the task of ensuring the total transformation of the company to enable it assume a strategic position in government’s plans for the integrated aluminium industry which hinges on value addition.
Mr Mireku Duker stated that VALCO under its current management has shown signs of making full recovery and that the Ministry is counting on them to revamp the company and return it to its once glorified status.
Hon Mireku Duker who led a delegation from the Ministry to VALCO made efforts to woo investors, stressing that with the company now looking to turn a curve, it has become an attractive package for the investing public.
To this end, he disclosed that VALCO is in a healthy state, currently on the cusp of becoming a profit-making company and that investors will not make a wrong decision investing in VALCO.
Additionally, he noted with confidence the vision of the board and management and stated that he is positive about the future of VALCO. He also promised VALCO the collaboration of the Ministry to facilitate the revamping of the company.
“I’m happy that we have people who will want to see VALCO revamped and as a country it sometimes worrying that we mine bauxite, export it in its raw form and turn around to import alumina at a very high cost. That’s why the President in his own wisdom brought up the idea of upscaling value addition along the value chain by turning the bauxite into aluminium in-country and that VALCO is key within these strategic plans.”
George Mireku Duker
VALCO to witness significant progress
Furthermore, the deputy lands minister expressed his excitement that Ghanaians will know VALCO is not going down as being discussed in the public domain. He emphasized that VALCO is in good hands and the Company is going to progress and will be the “shine of the country in a few years to come”.
“I want to assure the investor public that VALCO is lucrative and open to the market, and we believe whatever they invest won’t go to waste. We are available as a ministry to play our supervisory role and will ensure the company gets to an enviable pedestal.”
George Mireku Duker
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of VALCO, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, provided a thorough overview of the state of the company, explaining that despite some challenges facing them, they have made some remarkable progress. He outlined the management’s vision for the company which is to revamp and expand operations to ensure full utilization of the lines.
“As we stand now, we are not making full utilization of the lines. We were supposed to have 200 but because of the challenges, we are doing 117. The business plan is to achieve between 140 and 150 by close of the year.”
Daniel NII Kwartei Titus Glover
It will be recalled that the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) earlier this year revealed that it is hopeful of locating a strategic investor before the end of 2023.
This followed the approval by Cabinet for VALCO and the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to go to the market to identify and engage a strategic partner towards the retrofit of the smelter to bring to it to world-class standard in terms of technology, operating efficiencies and costs, profitability, among other benefits.
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