Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah
The Chamber of Cement Manufacturers (COCMAG) says it has observed with ‘grave concern’ the increasing introduction of various taxes and levies, and wants the government to intervene to protect the cement industry from collapse.
At
a COCMAG crunch board meeting last Thursday, the members discussed various
challenges confronting the cement industry.
Most
recent among them, according to the Executive Secretary, Rev. Dr. George
Dawson-Ahmoah, was the recent fumigation levy of $0.50 per ton on imported
clinker by the Ministry of Health.
“How
on earth can a raw material such as clinker be fumigated before clearance from
the port? We are calling for the immediate abolishing of this levy,” the executive
secretary said.
“My
members are not happy at all because besides this levy there is still the VAT
restructuring levy of 5% and the 2% special tax which has been in existence for
the past three years. There are several others including a proposed increase in
certification licence/surveillance from Ghana Standards Authority etc. All
these affect production cost in the production of cement culminating in uncompetitiveness,”
he explained.
Rev.
Dr. Dawson-Ahmoah further lamented a recent reduction of benchmark value by the
Vice-President for all imports into the country, adding that “strangely the
Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) restricts such directive
to cover the importation of raw material from only China and Turkey.”
“There
has been persistent appeals to the Custom Division of the Ghana Revenue
Authority (GRA) that cement raw materials are imported from all over the world
but these appeals have not been addressed. Meanwhile, the reduction in
benchmark values are strictly adhered to on finished imported cement products
(bagged and bulk) which are competing with the local cement manufacturers which
is a clear case of unfair trade practices,” he pointed out.
Another
issue raised was the increasing cement factories in Ghana saying, “Already, the
existing manufacturers have a combined utilization rate of about 45%, an
indication that there’s a total adequate cement capacity in Ghana.”
On
the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) increase of electricity
tariff, Rev. Dr Dawson-Ahmoah said “this is a bombshell; the stated increase of
11% as announced is rather about 46% comparing with the previous tariff.”
He
said such development if not addressed might force companies to downsize.
He
was, however, full of gratitude to the Minister of Trade and Industry for his
support and said he was hopeful that “these issues will be addressed with his
interventions.”
The
current members of the Chamber of Cement Manufacturers include CIMAF Ghana
Limited, Diamond Cement Group, CBI Ghana Limited and Ghacem Limited. Wan Heng
Ghana Limited and Xin Ann Safe Cement Limited – both Chinese companies are yet
to regularize their membership.
