“VW is building its plant at the North Industrial Area in Accra, and is due to start production by the end of April. Sinotruk has begun assembling its trucks. Toyota is scheduled to start the assembly of vehicles in Tema in the last quarter of this year. We have high hopes for this new industry, which has come to join our own Kantanka.”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was speaking on Thursday, 20th February, 2020, at Parliament, when he delivered his Message on the State of the Nation, when he made this known.

Having launched the Ghana Automotive Development Policy in August last year, the President told Parliament that it has so far attracted investments and commercial interests from some very big players, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruk and Suzuki.

In addition to the country’s industrialisation drive, the President noted that Business Resource Centres being built, are helping the country to unearth some exciting, young entrepreneurs.

“Thirty-seven (37) of them have been completed. These centres are one-stop enterprise support centres that provide full range of business development services, investment facilitation and information services to entrepreneurs, and business enterprises at the district level,” he added.

Having won the bid to host the Headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Accra, Government has provided a permanent office building to host the Secretariat, and with the appointment of the Secretary-General in Addis Ababa two weeks ago, at the recent AU Summit, the office will become operational by the end of next month.

“We extend our warm congratulations to the first Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, the young South African, and assure him that we will give him our fullest co-operation to ensure he succeeds,” he added

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Mr. Speaker, added that Ghana now finds herself in a position to exploit her large bauxite, manganese and iron ore deposits, which will enable the country to establish an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry, and an iron and steel industry.

“The Ghana Integrated Bauxite and Aluminum Development Corporation and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Corporation have been established by law as the vehicles for this exploitation. The processes are underway for the selection, this year, of joint venture partners for the development of the full value chain of these two multi-billion-dollar industries, which will give a tremendous boost to Ghanaian industrialisation,” he added.

1D1F

Touching on 1D1F, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told Parliament that a total of one hundred and eighty-one (181) projects, spread across the one hundred and twelve (112) districts, are currently at various stages of implementation under the programme.

Additionally, fifty-eight (58) companies already in operation; twenty-six (26) projects currently under construction; fifty-eight (58) AfDB small-scale projects ready for sod cutting in the early part of this year; and twenty-six (26) pipeline projects are ready to commence implementation by the 1st quarter of this year.

“EXIM Bank, last month, signed a one hundred million United States dollar facility with Credit Suisse to help complete, this year, twenty (20) of the export-related factories. It is envisaged that the 1D1F initiative will generate a total of two hundred and twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred and sixty-six (228,866) direct and indirect jobs,” he added.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stated that “struggling, existing businesses are also being revived and expanded under the 1D1F scheme. There is nothing contrary to the philosophy that underpins 1D1F if an already existing enterprise is helped to expand and employ more people.”