The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has directed all of its stations to purchase only made in Ghana electrical cables for their operations.
The move, according to the Managing Director of the ECG, Kwame Agyeman-Budu, is to empower local electrical cable producers to create more jobs.
“The idea is to fulfill the local content policy of the country. We also want to make sure that the local companies have the capacity to supply ECG,” Mr. Agyeman-Budu said after visiting the premises of Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd.
Long-standing Policy
ECG has a long-standing policy to purchase good and services, particularly, electrical material from Ghana, but the policy had been flouted over the years. This has resulted in the procurement of materials from outside, mainly China.
While this directive by the ECG is laudable as it will boost the local electrical cable market, it is however unclear if the decision to revert and strictly adhere to company’s standing policy on procurement would have been made if coronavirus disease had not emerged.
But Mr Agyeman-Budu said even though ECG has in the past imported majority of its cables, there is the need to move away from that to gradually outsource to local producers.
He added that buying locally produced cables will enhace the capacity of local companies to expand their businesses.
“When we buy from the local producers, we also help create jobs and empower our own local companies,” he stated.
High standard
He stated that although cables produced by local companies are of high standards, some of the manufacturers clandestinely resort to importation of cable into the country, defeating the purpose of the local content policy.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Tropical Cables and Conductor Limited, Dr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, said sourcing electrical cables locally will help to create more jobs since they are in high demand in the country.
He reiterated local producers’ capacity to meet the demand for electrical cables by ECG.
“We have the capacity to produce for ECG. There is a lot of idle capacity,” he said, adding that “if we are given the opportunity, we can employ more engineers and create more jobs”
Source: www.ghanatalksbusiness.com
