The Electricity Company of Ghana, ECG, says it has directed all stations to purchase only made in Ghana electrical cables for their operations.
The standing policy had been overlooked as purchases were made outside Ghana, particularly China.
Speaking after reactivating the policy, the Managing Director of the ECG, Kwame Agyeman-Budu, explained that the idea is to empower local producers to create more jobs.
“The idea is to fulfill the local content policy of the country. We also want to make sure that the local companies have the capacity to supply ECG,” Mr. Agyeman-Budu said after visiting the premises of Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd.
He explained that ECG has noticed over the years that some local manufacturers have resorted to importing cables into the country, defeating the purpose of the local content policy.
He added that buying locally produced cables will boost the capacity of indigenous companies to expand their operations.
“When we buy from the local producers, we also help create jobs and empower our own local companies,” he stressed.
Mr. Agyeman-Budu said even though ECG has in the past imported majority of its cables, there is the need to move away from that to gradually outsource to local producers.
He stated that cables produced by local companies are of international standards; and so there is no need to import cables into the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of Tropical Cables and Conductor Limited, Dr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, said sourcing electrical cables locally will help to create thousands of jobs since they are in high demand in the country.
He assured that local producers have the capacity to meet the demand for electrical cables by ECG.
“We have the capacity to produce for ECG. There is a lot of idle capacity,” he said, adding that “if we are giving the opportunity, we can employ more engineers and create more jobs”