Some cement manufacturing companies in Ghana have called on the government to use only locally procured cement as part of its plans to build more concrete roads in the country.
According to the local manufacturers, this will ensure that the surplus cement produced is used.
Figures available from the cement monitoring committee show that Ghana consumes about 8 million metric tons of cement annually, less than the production capacity of about 12 million metric tons.
[contextly_sidebar id=”HpGtifdBVEzD94t2YqNjjh2cXzJldUqZ”]A member of the cement monitoring committee, Sammy Amegayibor told Citi Business News that the policy for the construction of concrete roads must insist on the use of locally produced cement.
“I’m convinced that the surplus cement that is produced will be taken up following government’s growing interest in building concrete roads. But we need to be careful. We’ve had situations where interest has been high, and instead of ensuring that the cement that for constructing concrete roads are locally procured, we rather see them being imported.”
He added that “beyond the point where we have agreed that we are going to do some roads in concrete, we also want to see the next step which is to ensure that the policy prescribes that local cement.”
The Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia cut the sod for the construction of a pilot concrete road for the 5.4 kilometre Tema Steel- Works- DVLA- TOR stretch in the Tema Industrial Area.
The road is expected to to be completed in 18 months and will be undertaken by two local firms, Messrs Joshob Construction Company and Lemef Construction Limited.
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By: Bobbie Osei/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
