[ 2016-12-02 ]

NPP to establish aluminium industry
The 2016 presidential candidate of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, has assured Ghanaians that victory for
him and the NPP in the December 7 elections will
mean the country will be put at the forefront of
the industrialisation efforts of West Africa.

According to Mr Akufo-Addo, his administration
would oversee the mining of the vast and untapped
bauxite deposits in Kyebi, Atiwa plains and
Nyinahin, and through the building of an
integrated aluminium industry, add value to the
country’s bauxite deposits.

This, he explained, would facilitate the export of
manufactured aluminium products, a vision which
has been envisaged for several decades, stressing:
“The time has come for us to move our industrial
development forward.”

The three-time presidential candidate was
addressing a gathering at Nkawkaw, the venue for
the party’s Eastern Regional Rally, the last of
the regional rallies, on Wednesday, November 30,
2016, when he made this known.

The establishment of the Integrated Aluminium
Industry, Nana Akufo-Addo explained, will provide
thousands of jobs for the teeming masses of
unemployed Ghanaian youth resident in the Eastern
Region, and across the country.

“There must be jobs in our country. The lack of
jobs, which is the case under this government,
poses a threat to the future stability of our
country. We have put in place programmes to make
sure we create jobs and prosperity for our youth
so they can also stand on their own feet, thereby
securing the peace and stability of our country.
That is the task we have put before ourselves. We
want to construct a bright future for the Ghanaian
people,” he added.

In addition to this, Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated
his commitment of helping to establish at least
one factory in each of the 216 districts across
the country.

“We have completed the surveys, and already at
least 300 projects have been identified across the
216 districts of Ghana. Marketing plans, and
markets for the products are being worked out.
What is needed is that on the 7th December, you
give me the opportunity to implement this
programme (1-District-1-Factory),” he said.

The industrialisation of the Ghanaian economy, Mr
Akufo-Addo has already indicated, “is going to
help us in many ways, by generating wealth and
development across the country” stating: “We
will stop this ‘Accra-Kumasi’ centred
development. It is dangerous for the future of our
country. In doing so, we will revive the lives of
our districts and regions, and stop this
potentially dramatic exodus of young people
towards the city centres.”

To this end, and in giving a boost to the
establishment of these industries, the NPP flag
bearer has committed his government to the
abolition of import duties on raw materials and
manufacturing equipment, and the reduction of
corporate income tax from the current 25 per cent
to 20 per cent, to make sure that Ghanaian
enterprises are competitive.

In the midst of all these policy initiatives, the
NPP flag bearer has indicated that the country’s
fiscal balance would also have to be firmly put in
place through the enactment of a Fiscal
Responsibility Act, which will set out specific
relationships between government expenditure and
national reserves, to make sure that the economy
is always within the fiscal balance.

The “1-District-1-Factory” policy, which is an
integral part of the NPP’s agenda to
industrialise the country, according to Mr
Akufo-Addo, will compliment a number of
“strategic, arch industries” to be
established, in partnership with the private
sector.

“We want to reposition the Ghana Investment
Promotion Centre to focus its attention on
attracting investment, both domestic and foreign,
into these strategic industries – iron and
steel, cement, bauxite and aluminium,
petrochemical industry, vehicle assembly and the
manufacture of machine parts and equipment”,
insisting: “These are going to be the industries
for which we are going to anchor our industrial
development.”

Source - Classfmonline

... go Back