Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah
The Chamber of Cement Manufacturers (COCMAG) says it has observed with ‘grave concern’ the increasing introduction of various taxes and levies, and wants the government to intervene to protect the cement industry from collapse.
At a COCMAG crunch board meeting last Thursday, the members discussed various challenges confronting the cement industry.
Most recent among them, according to the Executive Secretary, Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah, was the recent fumigation levy of $0.50 per ton on imported clinker by the Ministry of Health.
“How on earth can a raw material such as clinker be fumigated before clearance from the port? We are calling for the immediate abolishing of this levy,” the executive secretary said.
“My members are not happy at all because besides this levy there is still the VAT restructuring levy of 5% and the 2% special tax which has been in existence for the past three years. There are several others including a proposed increase in certification licence/surveillance from Ghana Standards Authority etc. All these affect production cost in the production of cement culminating in uncompetitiveness,” he explained.
Rev. Dr. Dawson-Ahmoah further lamented a recent reduction of benchmark value by the Vice-President for all imports into the country, adding that “strangely the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) restricts such directive to cover the importation of raw material from only China and Turkey.”
“There has been persistent appeals to the Custom Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) that cement raw materials are imported from all over the world but these appeals have not been addressed. Meanwhile, the reduction in benchmark values are strictly adhered to on finished imported cement products (bagged and bulk) which are competing with the local cement manufacturers which is a clear case of unfair trade practices,” he pointed out.
Another issue raised was the increasing cement factories in Ghana saying, “Already, the existing manufacturers have a combined utilization rate of about 45%, an indication that there’s a total adequate cement capacity in Ghana.”
On the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) increase of electricity tariff, Rev. Dr Dawson-Ahmoah said “this is a bombshell; the stated increase of 11% as announced is rather about 46% comparing with the previous tariff.”
He said such development if not addressed might force companies to downsize.
He was, however, full of gratitude to the Minister of Trade and Industry for his support and said he was hopeful that “these issues will be addressed with his interventions.”
The current members of the Chamber of Cement Manufacturers include CIMAF Ghana Limited, Diamond Cement Group, CBI Ghana Limited and Ghacem Limited. Wan Heng Ghana Limited and Xin Ann Safe Cement Limited – both Chinese companies are yet to regularize their membership.