Takoradi, April 11, GNA - Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, President of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) on Tuesday appealed to the Government to ban importation of second hand tyres.

He said the ban would pave the way for the reactivation of the defunct Bonsa Tyre Factory that collapsed due to the importation of second hand tyres into the country.

Mr Oteng-Gyasi, made the appeal at a meeting with Western and Central Regional members of the association in Takoradi.

He said motorists patronised second hand tyres although they were aware of the problems they caused on the roads due to the absence of a tyre factory in the country.

Mr Oteng-Gyasi called on motorists to be prepared to pay higher prices for quality tyres to prevent accidents and protect lives on the roads when the ban on importation of second hand tyres was enforced. He announced that AGI with support from the Ministry of Education and Sports and some companies would soon establish an Industrial Skills Training Centre at the Tema Technical Training Institute.

Mr Oteng-Gyasi explained that the centre would train staff of members in addition to other training programmes of the association. He noted that poverty in the country could be reduced through income generation and creation of employment especially for the youth. Mr Oteng-Gyasi stressed the need for the Government to assist the association create markets for local industries to enable them expand and create employment.

He noted that local industries could export when they produced at full capacity.

Mr Prosper Kojo Amewu, Takoradi Branch Manager of Amalgamated Bank Limited, said the Bank had earmarked 45 billion cedis for a year's pilot phase of the Bank's Scheme for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), which took off in September 2005.

Mr Amewu said members of the association in good standing could access credit facilities under the scheme. However, he said applicants should be customers of the bank and had established a business.

Mr Amewu asked the members engaged in small and medium scale enterprises to take advantage of the scheme to expand their businesses. Mr Andrew Koomson, Western and Central Regional Vice Chairman of the association, said some companies deducted five per cent petroleum tax from their purchases but failed to pay them to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).