President Commissions Toyota & Suzuki Vehicle Assembly Plant
The President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo on Tuesday, 29th June
2021, commissioned the Toyota Tsusho Vehicle Assembly Plant, located at the Free
Zones Enclave in Tema.
Toyota Tsusho is the third Bonafide Vehicle Assembler after Volkswagen Ghana and
Kantanka Automobile Industries, to be licensed to begin the local assembling of
vehicles under the Ghana Automotive Development Programme.
The programme approved by Cabinet in 2018 and spearheaded by the Ministry of Trade
and Industry aims at making Ghana the automobile manufacturing hub of Africa.
Ghana imports over 100,000 vehicles per annum, which makes motor vehicles among the
leading imported commodities into the country, accounting for about 15% of the
annual import bill.
The development of the automotive industry in Ghana is therefore a
game-changer for the Ghanaian economy aimed at significantly reducing our import
bills, creating jobs and contributing towards improving the Country’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the President, the vision is to make Ghana a fully integrated and
competitive industrial hub for the automotive industry in West Africa, and we
are very much on courseâ€.
On job creation, the President continued, “This facility has already offered
some three hundred and thirty-four (334) employment opportunities to young
Ghanaian graduates from our tertiary institutions across the country, notably
from the University of Ghana, the University of Cape Coast, the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, the George Grant University of Mines and
Technology, and some technical and vocational institutionsâ€.
The decision taken by Toyota Tsusho to undertake the investment, according to
the President, has come at a very opportune time in Ghana’s development, as it
serves as a major boost to ongoing efforts by Government to hasten the
nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The confidence in the Ghanaian economy, expressed by a global organisation like
Toyota, he said, will provide additional impetus to the realisation of
Government’s post-COVID economic recovery programme, titled the one hundred
billion cedi Ghana Cares Obaatampa Programme, which has been designed to
revitalise and transform the Ghanaian economy in the new COVID-19-free
era.
“One of the components of this Programme is for Government, in collaboration
with Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), to develop an Asset-Based
Vehicle Financing Scheme for public sector workers to purchase locally assembled
vehicles. This Scheme will make acquisition of new vehicles more affordable,â€
the President said.
He assured that Government will continue to create the enabling environment to
boost the profitability of the emerging automotive sector in Ghana, adding that
the Ministry of Trade and Industry is working with other state institutions,
such as Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and Ghana
Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC), to develop locally
the required raw material value chains to feed the manufacturing sector of the
automobile industry.
In addition to this, the President revealed that Government has also acquired a
building complex at the South Industrial Area, in Accra, to be developed as the
Ghana Automotive Development Centre, which will, amongst others, serve as a
one-stop support destination for the implementation of the Auto Policy, and be a
hub for the development of advanced skills for the industry.
The complex will also house the Ghana Automotive Development Council, a
consultative stakeholder body, to oversee the auto policy implementation, and
promote Ghanaian participation in the development of the sector.
Also speaking, Alan Kyerematen, Ghana's Minister for Trade and Industry, said
the establishment of the plant in the country is a step towards the local
manufacturing of cars in Ghana.
“In Africa, we import millions of dollars of cars. I’m very confident that
with what we’re doing here, very soon, we will see made-in-Ghana cars all
around Africa. The industry will create highly skilled jobs and promote training
opportunities for the youth of our country. It will also have multiplying effect
by stimulating the growth of other sectors of our economy,†Kyerematen said.
Volkswagen, Nissan, Sinotruck and Katanka are other vehicle brands have sited
assembly plants in Ghana.
In April, Hyundai and KIA, South Korean multinational automotive manufacturers,
announced plans to establish assembly plants in Ghana by the end of 2022.
