$10m steel production plant commissioned
Iron and steel manufacturing company, Fabrimetal Ghana Ltd, has commissioned a new section mill plant at its Prampram factory premises to expand production.
The $10 million investment is part of the company's expansion project to address the growing demand for steel products in the market.
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It also forms part of the company’s avowed confidence in the economy, hence the investment.
Section mills are facilities that carry out series of processes to produce angle bars, flat bars channels, square bars among other merchant bars aimed at meeting the growing needs of the construction and fabrication industry.
A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Michael Okyere Baafi, who led a delegation to the factory premises near Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, applauded the efforts of Fabrimetal Ghana and the private sector in general in assisting in the steady growth of the local manufacturing economy.
He said the government in recognition of these significant contributions by the private sector had also introduced industrial development programmes such as the 1D1F initiative to boost private sector development.
“The private sector-led IDIF initiative seeks to change the nature of Ghana’s economy from one that is dependent on exports of raw materials and imports of finished goods to one that is focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods”, he said
Conducive environment
According to him, through the initiative, the government had created the necessary conducive environment for businesses to access funding from financial institutions and other support services from government agencies.
He gave the assurance that the Ministry of Trade and Industry would continue to support the private sector especially towards the growth of the local manufacturing industry.
The Board Chairman of the Ghana Integrated Iron ore and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC), Alhaji Umar Farouk Aliu Mahama, said his outfit was glad to see a leap in the development of companies in the steel environment regardless of how small it might look.
He said developed countries had reached their current state of development as a result of steel, adding that countries such as the United States of America had spent millions of dollars in acquisition of steel, therefore there was the need for Ghana to mine, process and produce steel to spur its industrialisation agenda.
Ore discovery
He said Ghana’s iron ore reserves discovered so far was projected to be in the region of 6.4 billion metric tonnes estimated at $ 1.7 trillion, enough to push Ghana up the ladder of leading iron and steel producing countries in the world
The Managing Director of Fabrimetal Ghana, Mr Rohit Raj, said the inauguration of the new section mill was a celebration of Ghana’s march towards industrialisation and self reliance.
He said the company started operation in 2016 with the commercial production of High Tensile Iron rods which were hitherto largely imported into the country.
Mr Raj said five years down the line, the importation of High Tensile Iron rods had reduced drastically of which Fabrimetal Ghana had played a key role in supporting all the major construction projects requiring that type of rods.
He explained that their products were aimed to be an import substitute with emphasis on the ability to produce internationally accepted quality in Ghana which they had achieved.
According to him, with the new section mill, the company’s investments in Ghana currently stood at $40 million.