Some cement manufacturing companies in Ghana have called on government to use only locally procured cement as part of its plans to build more concrete roads in the country.
This, according to the local manufacturers, will ensure that the surplus cement produced by them are used.
Figures available from the cement monitoring committee show that Ghana consumes about 8 million metric tons of cement annually, less than the production capacity of about 12 million metric tons.
A member of the Cement Monitoring Committee, Mr. Sammy Amegayibor tells Citi Business News the policy on the construction of concrete roads must insist that the locally produced cement are used.
“I’m convinced that the surplus cement that is produced will be taken up following government’s growing interest in building concrete roads. But we need to be careful. We’ve had situations where interest has been high, and instead of ensuring that the cement that will be used for constructing concrete roads are locally procured, we rather see them being imported.”
He added that a concerted effort to use locally procured cement for concrete roads must be in the policy.
“Beyond the point where we have agreed that we are going to do some roads in concrete, we also want to see the next step which is to ensure that the policy actually prescribes that the cement that will be used should be locally procured.”
According to Mr. Amegayibor, the way forward when it comes to sustaining the business of local cement manufacturers is a pragmatic effort on the part of government to deliberately consume the cement that is produced in the country.
The government showed some commitment to its policy of building concrete roads with the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia cutting the sod for the construction of a pilot concrete road for the 5.4 kilometre Tema Steel- Works- DVLA- TOR stretch in the Tema Industrial Area.
The road is expected to take 18 months and will be undertaken by two local firms, Messrs Joshob Construction Company and Lemef Construction Limited.
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By: Bobbie Osei/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana