President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commended the various clans of Ada in the Greater Accra Region for coming together to address the bottlenecks that have hindered the development of the salt industry in the area.

With this development, the President said the salt potential of Ada was ready for rapid development for the benefit of the country and the people in the area.

In a meeting with traditional leaders from Ada at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday, President Akufo-Addo noted that the considerable salt deposits in Ada could support the growth of Ghana’s petrochemical industry.

Aside that, he said there was a huge global market for salt, and cited Nigeria as an example of a neighbouring country that imports salt from Brazil, when there was considerable salt deposits in Ghana.

“Salt is a crucial ingredient in all the petrochemical products that we hope to develop out of our oil fields,” he said and added that the commodity can also be a source of foreign exchange earnings.

The development of the Ada salt industry, the President observed would bring enormous benefits to the state and create employment for the local people in the area.

“So long as there is understanding among you, the sky is a limit,” he said, adding, “we are ready on our part to assist you to ensure that Ghana benefits from it.

On the erosion in the area, he said the Ministry of Works and Housing would construct sea defence walls in the area.

All the four landowners in Ada in the Greater Accra Region came together to address the bottlenecks that had hindered the development of the salt industry in the area.

The Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area, Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III, in an address read on his behalf, said the traditional leaders had settled their differences for rapid development of the salt industry.

“The capacity for salt production is 2.2 million metric tons produced in six communities including Ada. However, out of the 2.2 million, the production level is about 250,000 metric tons, only 11.4 per cent of our potential.”

“At a time that we want to maximise revenue for our communal development, we have noted that for Ada alone, the capacity is stated as 1.2 million metric tons, representing about 54 per cent of the production capacity,” he said.

The Paramount Chief said the landowners were ready to partner the government to exploit the commodity in the area.