Volta Regional Minister pledges support for local industries

Aflao, April 21, GNA- Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Volta Regional Minister has pledged his commitment to support the few industries in the Region as partners in development.

He said the position of such industries in job and incomes creation directly or indirectly fitted into the national priority of enhancing the lot of the people.

Mr Dzamesi was speaking during a familiarisation visit to the Aflao- based Diamond Cement Ghana Limited (DCGL) on Wednesday. The 600,000-metric tonne Portland cement factory is one of the few industries in the Region.

The Minister, who was accompanied by Mr Joseph Nayan the Deputy Regional Minister and Togbe Amenya Fiti V, Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditional Area expressed the gratitude of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) to the DCGL for minimising youth unemployment in the area.

He said the VRCC was also happy that media reports about the pollution of the catchment areas of the company were not wholly true. "The Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the company over the pollution issue," the Minister stated.

"We further commend the management in not relenting...in pollution management, and also for their laudable plan of resettling some of the communities around the factory."

Mr Dzamesi said it was a difficult to explain pollution issues, very clearly to the local people and urged the company to maintain the high standards at the 20 million dollar plant.

The Minister said the four- kilometre road linking the factory to Aflao had been given on contract under the funding of the International Development Agency, but expressed regret that the contractors had not lived up to expectation.

Mr Chitti Babu, General Manager of DCGL, said since the beginning of operations two years ago, the company had used technological innovations such as the most modern Pragmatic Logic Control system, optimised by a high efficiency separator to meet environmental standards.

He said the clinker storage silos at the plant were the type that minimised pollution during handling of raw materials.