The group CEO and Managing Director of GOIL Ghana PLC, Kwame Osei Prempeh, has urged the government to stop granting tax waivers on imported bitumen for local contractors.

This call comes in the wake of the commissioning of Ghana's largest bitumen processing plant in Tema, a joint venture between GOIL PLC and Côte d'Ivoire’s Société Multinationale de Bitumes (SMB).

During the commissioning ceremony, Mr. Prempeh emphasized the need for a policy that mandates local sourcing of bitumen for road construction projects.

He argued that discontinuing tax waivers for imported bitumen would benefit the country by ensuring higher quality standards and preventing the influx of substandard materials.

"Your Excellency, for the country to derive much benefit from projects such as this, we humbly request that a policy that requires road contractors to source their Bitumen locally be put in place and enforced. Therefore, the practice where contractors are given tax waivers should be discouraged. Ghana stands to gain if measures are put in place to prevent low grades of Bitumen being imported into the country."

"Mr. President every effort must be made to prevent influx of Bitumen into the country through unapproved routes which will deny the country of the much-needed revenue" he stated.

The plant boasts a total storage capacity of 7,500 metric tons and will process base bitumen imported from Côte d'Ivoire into high-quality polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) and bitumen emulsions.

These products are essential for developing durable road infrastructure, offering enhanced performance under extreme weather conditions and heavy traffic loads.

The new state-of-the-art facility is expected to revolutionize Ghana’s road construction sector and boost industrial growth by reducing the country's reliance on imported bitumen.

It also aims to position Ghana as a significant player in the West African bitumen market.

ID/BB

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