PRESIDENT AKUFO-Addo yesterday officially launched the brand new state-of-the-art Nissan Assembly Plant in Tema.
The $9 million assembly plant was built in collaboration with Japan Motors as a licenced assembler on 22,000m2 plot of land, of which 5000m2 is covered space.
The plant has the capacity to produce a total of 11,593 vehicles per annum comprising 6,625 units of pick-up and 4,968 units of saloon cars per shift.
However, they intend to start with the production of 1,800 vehicles per year and progress to increase production.
It also has the modern water test facility to check for any leakage on new vehicles and environmental friendly in its recycling of water, which will be filtered and re-used for the water test booth and car wash.
The plant is the culmination of a journey that began somewhere in 2018 when Nissan became the first mover in the country to a memorandum of understanding with government to work towards creating Ghana Automotive Development Policy.
Commissioning the plant, President Akufo-Addo mentioned that the coming in of automobile companies in Ghana has been facilitated by government’s bold move to develop the Ghana Automotive Development Policy (GADP) under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry with generous fiscal incentives.
He said by assembling, and, ultimately, producing cars in Ghana, new and highly skilled jobs are being created, the use of foreign exchange to import secondhand vehicles will be reduced, and, at the same time, the exports of made in Ghana cars to other African markets will earn our nation much needed foreign exchange.
According to him, he has a vision to make Ghana a fully integrated and competitive industrial hub for the automotive industry in West Africa.
He believes that Nissan has made a case for Ghana’s economy after it was hard-hit by COVID-19.
President Akufo-Addo expressed excitement about Ghana attracting modern automobile companies into the country.
The President assured all stakeholders in the automobile industry of government’s support.
Managing Director of Nissan Africa, Mike Whitfield, said the plant is an incredible joyous and emotional experience.
“The existence of this plant is a tribute to the passion and commitment of Japan Motors investing $9 million, which in itself would not have been possible without the security and certainty offered by the Government of Ghana’s progressive automotive industry development policy which was signed into law in record time.
“Ghana today stands as a benchmark for the African automotive industry, an example of what can be done whether is a will and a vision,” he stated.
He said the assembly plant meets all the GADP requirements, and the only plant with vehicle Test Track in Ghana of 3100m2 area with 12 noise detection and vibration sections, alignment check, steering, brakes and clutch concern, among others.
“We are very proud of the calibre of the people that we have attracted to this new assembly plant. Out of 37 technical employees, 30 are university graduate engineers and the others are skilled and experienced employees complementing the technical employees.
“We are ready to hire more staff as our production ramps up, increasing our contribution to reducing joblessness in this country by increasing employment. The plant is designed to run three shifts, with potential direct staff employment increasing to 110 staff that could produce a maximum of 31 vehicles every 24 hours cycle if the demand is created by the market,” he added.
On his part, the Managing Director of Japan Motors, Salem Kalmoni, was of the view that the kind of investment made at the assembly plant was proof of his outfit commitment to the country and government, creating jobs and opportunities in the country.
“To borrow from the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, we have indeed put our skin into it,” he noted.
The plant, he said, was proof of the fantastic public-private partnership between the Government of Ghana, Japan Motors and Nissan Africa.
Kalmoni was optimistic that the government would fully implement the Ghana Automotive Development Policy, after having identified vehicle assembly and automotive component manufacturing as a strategic anchor industry for its Ten Point Plan for Ghana’s industrial development.
BY Vincent Kubi & Charles Takyi Boadu