The Information Minister, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has disclosed that government is putting plans in place to make Secondhand car Dealers distributors of assembled vehicles in Ghana by the international automobile firms, who are expected to begin work in 2020.
“We have an opportunity to explore ways of onboarding them to become the new dealers of these vehicles so, in the end, we are able to develop a local industry for cars manufactured here in Ghana, create jobs and create incomes and bring more safety on our roads,” he stated.
Automotive Development Policy
Early this year, Ghana put in place the Automotive Development Policy for the establishment of car assembling and manufacturing plants in Ghana.
Automobile manufacturing companies such as Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan and VW have initiated plans to set up assembling plants, starting this year, in Ghana.
The plants will serve the Ghanaian market and other West African countries and also boost employment and offer an import substitution and export promotion to improve the balance of payment.
However, concerns have been raised with the possible loss of jobs for the Secondhand car Dealers in Ghana.
Assurance
In response to these concerns, on the Eye Witness News programme, which was monitored by the Ghana Talks Business on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, Mr Nkrumah allayed those fears and said that ADUG will not be affected on the ban on secondhand vehicles and vehicles older than 10 years comes into force.
Meanwhile, The President of the ADUG, Mr Boateng, in an earlier interview said that the Government had assured them that it will still allow them to import secondhand vehicles used between two to nine years, in spite of the ban.
