Pozzolana Ghana Limited (PGL) on Saturday rolled out a mechanism to revamp the cement industry with its brand produced from clay and palm kernel shells.

The product is also cheaper to produce and inexpensive as compared with Portland cement on the market.

In the wake of the huge housing deficit facing Ghana, natural and locally-produced pozzolana cement provides a superior building product at a reduced cost of construction, PGL President Douglas Borgsdorf noted in a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

He said pozzolana cement plays an important milestone in the local building industry as it is expected to reduce the cost incurred by developers in constructing houses.

He said PGL produces cost-efficient mortar and concrete, improves the workability of mortar and concrete and reduces the heat of hydration, bleeding and segregation of concrete.

“It minimises the effect of sulphate attack in concrete and mortar. It also reduces the effect of alkali aggregate reactivity and is more suitable for polluted environments like abandoned refuse sites,” he said.

Mr Borgsdorf observed that, in view of the new developmental drive of PGL, a new management has been constituted under the directorship of Mr Vivek Garg, tasked to employ extensive complex manufacturing technological environments to expand PGL’s footprint in the construction and cement industry.

He said under the new management, PGL is to become a respected and vital contributor directly within the communities it services and to Ghana as a whole.

Mr Garg’s Curriculum Vitae made available to the Ghana News Agency indicates that, prior to joining PGL, he was chief operating officer at a manufacturing facility in Indonesia and has held a number of plant manager, product distribution and project management roles.

Mr Garg holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India.

Responding to the appointment, Mr Garg said: “I look forward to improving the performance of our existing facility from both a process and personnel perspective. We currently have a great operation and we are committed to continuous improvement.

My initial roles are to help prepare PGL for expansion through training and development of our employees, support for our local distributors and building strong relationships with Ghana's builders.”

Pozzolana was developed and approved by the government as a new construction material, perfect for any type of building. The Ghana Building and Road Research Institute, conducted extensive research and development activities on the production of pozzolana from clay, and has exclusively licensed Pozzolana Ghana Limited to produce the cement for building materials.

PGL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Valley, California-based PMC Global, currently operates one plant in Gamoa Mprumem in the Central Region but has plans to open a cement pre-mix plant and distribution depots in the near future.**