Accra, Oct. 23, GNA
– The Ghana Chamber of Mines has reiterated the commitment of member companies
to the country’s local content agenda in order to help boost local economic
growth.
Mr Alfred Baku, Vice
President, Ghana Chamber of Mines, said the commitment was to develop a locally
integrated business network that would lower the cost of production and create
opportunities to spawn other businesses to support national development.
To do this, member
companies proactively engage stakeholders to help build the management and
technical capacity of local suppliers in the mining supply chain.
Mr Baku said this in
a speech delivered at a Local Content Workshop organized by the Chamber for
stakeholders to deliberate on local content in the mining industry.
It was on the theme:
“Harnessing the Opportunities within the Mining Industry’s Local Content: The
Journey so Far and Way Forward” and seeks to chronicle the eventful path the
industry has crafted since the implementation of the local content policy.
Mr Baku said despite
the unique challenges, such as high cost of production, fluctuations in the
gold price, environmental and security challenges, the sector continues to be a
key enabler of industrialization and broad-based economic development in Ghana.
For instance, in
2018, the sector contributed 9.8 per cent to GDP compared to 7.3 per cent in
2017, making it the fourth largest economic sector by value.
Proceeds from the
export of minerals also accounted for 39 per cent of gross merchandize exports,
making it the foremost source of export earnings for the economy.
Producing member
companies’ share of mineral revenue returned to the country increased from 70
per cent in 2017 to 75 per cent in 2018.
Besides, Mr Baku said,
the contributions made by the mining industry, the Chamber and its member
companies had taken various initiatives to source inputs and services from the
local economy.
To do this, member
companies proactively engage stakeholders to help build the management and
technical capacity of local suppliers in the mining supply chain.
Mr Baku said the
implementation of the Procurement List and the Local Content Initiative in
general, would succeed if the initiative had the required support from all key
stakeholders, including government, the Minerals Commission and local suppliers
as well as banks.
“It is my
expectation that the Minerals Commission and other stakeholders will
collaborate with the mining industry so that together we can realize the
objectives of the legislation on the local content, which in summary, is to
grow Ghana’s manufacturing capacity on the back of the mining industry,” Mr
Baku added.
On his part, Mr
Sulemanu Koney, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, said
local content is a critical factor in harnessing the inherent value from value
chain of the mining industry for broad based socio-economic development.
He said the
producing members of the Chamber spent $1.4 billion on local procurement of
goods and services in 2018.
He said it was the
desire of members to see manufacturing and fabrication firms as well as
engineering services companies set up in Ghana to offer services to the mining
industry in Ghana and expand to serve mining firms in West Africa.
In a speech read on
his behalf, the Minster of Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh,
said local content and value addition had become integral part of the
strategies that resource-rich countries had adopted to increase the benefits
from resource extraction and stimulate broad base growth beyond securing
optimal rents, royalties, taxes, shares and other revenues.
“Indeed, the goal of
the local content strategy is to promote linkages with other sectors of the
economy through local employment opportunities, local manufacturing of inputs,
in-country spending on local procurement of goods and services, technology and
skills transfer on local participation through equity and management”.
He said that the
government recognizes that for the mining sector to improve its contribution to
broad base development, it must be better integrated into the national and
event regional economic fabric through linkages, as stipulated in the African
Mining Vision.
GNA
