Advertisement

Calls for uniform standards in extractive sector
Dr Toni Aubyn, CEO, Minerals Commission

Calls for uniform standards in extractive sector

Industry players in the extractive sector are calling for a standardisation of product specifications and requirements to enable indigenous companies to produce uniform products that meet the requirements of all players in the industry.

These accepted standards, they believe, will further help the local companies in the oil, gas and mining sectors to position themselves to conform and subsequently win contracts to supply goods and services needed, as the government steps up efforts to push the local content agenda.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Dr Toni Aubyn, said in the mining sector, for instance, the challenge of colour coding and specification differences for products should not be an impediment for the local companies to supply them.

“You cannot have these problems because of colours; there should be the opportunity for harmonisation of colours. That is why the mining companies are sitting down with the manufacturers to iron out the critical challenges they have and how they themselves can fix it,” he said in an interview.

The passage of the Minerals and Mining (General) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2173) was supposed to guide the implementation of local content in the sector. Currently, the items on the procurement list that mining companies are expected to buy from Ghanaians include general lubricants, quicklime and hydrated lime and emulsion explosives.

The rest are heavy duty electric cables, grinding media, HDPE & PVC Pipes, cement and cement products and tyre-retreading.

The case of oil and gas

The Local Content and Local Participation Regulation (L.I.2204) for the oil and gas sector was passed in 2013 and took effect in 2014. The passage of the law required multi-national oil companies to give some percentage of contracts in the petroleum sector to local enterprises in order to promote local participation.

Most of the local companies, however, are unable to meet the stringent requirements needed for them to win contracts from the International Oil Companies (IOCs).

The Head of Policy at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Dr Ishmael Ackah, in a separate interview said there was the need for a Standardisation Bill that would set the standards for products that the local companies could supply to the IOCs.

“We need to set the standards and make sure that the local companies are working to meet it, so that in the next three years, they can also start winning some of the contracts,” he stated, adding that ACEP and other organisations were pushing for the Bill.

The Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), a government initiative, was launched in 2013 to provide support to Ghanaian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to position them to take advantage of business opportunities in the oil and gas sector.

Although the centre has organised various training programmes to build the capacity of SMEs through coaching and mentoring to win contracts, the results were not so encouraging.

Mr Ackah, therefore, called for coordinated efforts to provide the needed support for these local companies to benefit from the sector.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |