President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said his promises covering the natural resources sector are ambitious and doubts he will be able to fulfil all before the end of his four-year term.
President Akufo-Addo believes Ghana needs such policies for rapid transformation and to better the lives of citizens. However, his fear is that the four years may be too short to completely realise that dream.
“We also need important, large-scale industrial growth poles. We have identified three areas of activity. One, the exploitation of our bauxite resources. We have considerable bauxite resources in the Western Region of our country, in Awaso, in the Brong and Ashanti Regions, and, happily, also from where I come from in Kyebi… so you can understand the pressure on me to do something about these resources, and also do so in terms of looking at the entire value chain of establishing a refinery, establishing a smelter to aid in the transformation into aluminium.
“They say aluminium is the metal of the future. We have a lot of the raw material here, and we are determined to now exploit it in a comprehensive manner. The same with our iron ore and steel deposits. We have considerable iron ore deposits in Ghana, in Ghana, in the Western and Northern Regions. That is also part of the focus. Then, of course, in so far as we have considerable gas resources in our country, we also want to bring it into play for a petrochemical industry.
“So it is an ambitious programme. I am not sure in four years I will be able to do it all. But I am going to give it a big shot, and see what can be done,” Akufo-Addo stressed at the 2017 Blomberg Africa Business Media Innovators Summit in Accra on Monday, November 13, 2017.
President Akufo-Addo pointed out his government is putting in a lot of efforts to build a robust economy by creating jobs through the agriculture sector under the Planting for Food and Jobs pogramme among others.
Already, his government has rolled out his main campaign mantra Free Senior High School programme, which was executed in September. The New Patriotic Party government has also started the digital property address system, restoration of the nurses allowance, the paperless system at the ports, the One District, One Factory policy and the E-registration at the Registrar General’s department.
The 11-month-old government has also scrapped some “nuisance taxes” but is yet to implement the One District, One Dam programme, the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, reduction in electricity tariff, creation of five regions among others.
Africa Business Media Innovators (ABMI) 2017 is a three-day gathering hosted by Matt Winkler, Co-Founder & Editor Emeritus, Bloomberg News, and Justin Smith, CEO of Bloomberg Media. Focused on Africa, but with a global perspective, ABMI17 will explore how best to maintain a flourishing media sector and how business and financial journalism can best contribute to sustainable development on the African continent.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
