Veep Inspects Zoomlion Vehicle Assembling Plant

Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, has set up a vehicle assembling plant to assemble trucks for the local and international markets.

Currently, 100 mechanics assemble the knocked-down parts from China at the plant off the Motorway in Accra.

The company has another plant at Nmai Dzorn for the assembling of tricycles used for the collection of waste.

The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, visited the plant site Wednesday to motivate the management of the company to move on.

The Chief Executive Officer of Zoomlion, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, who conducted the Vice-President round the plants, said the company had started manufacturing some of the steel parts locally.

He said the company had so far assembled 250 trucks, some of which had been exported to Benin and Burkina Faso.

On the tricycle plant, he said 5,000 mechanics had been engaged nationwide to repair all the tricycles used by the company.

Mr Agyepong said the company would put up a similar vehicle assembling plant in Kumasi to meet the increasing demand for the trucks from Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.

The company also intended to increase the current number of mechanics from 100 to 500 within a few years, he added.

“Additionally, the company is putting up a university college which will be ready by March 2012 to train engineers, waste managers and contractors on the management of waste,” he said.

He said it was the encouragement which was given by President John Evans Atta Mills, through the Local Enterprises and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP), that made the company set up the plants.

The Vice-President commended Mr Agyepong and the management of Zoomlion for taking advantage of LESDEP to set up the plants, which would be the beginning of an auto industry in Ghana.

He said it was through those initiatives that the country could create jobs and propel the socio-economic development of the country.

Mr Mahama said it was the responsibility of the government to create a conducive business climate for the private sector to thrive and charged the private sector to take advantage of the friendly business atmosphere to initiate projects and grow their businesses.