If the environment is created in Ghana for more foreign companies involved in cement production to thrive, the citizenry will have the benefit of purchasing cement at very low prices due to competition in the sector, Clement Amole, an engineer at Ghana Development In Focus (GDIF), has said.
According to him, if prices of cement are reduced drastically, more Ghanaians will able to own homes at low cost, a situation that will reduce the housing deficit.
His comments dovetail into a similar one espoused by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekow Spio Garbrah, that: “…By the time cement comes into Ghana, because of tariffs, duties, and levies and also the profit margin cement companies are putting on it, the prices tend to be in the GHS28 to GHS30 range. But between manufacturers and importers, our own view is that cement prices should keep coming down and these last few days we’ve had some news report about cement prices coming down.”
The Minister attributed the report of cement prices coming down entirely to competition, saying: “The manufacturers realise that there is competition.”
He said: “Dangote for example is providing a lot of competition to the Ghanaian manufacturers some of whom have had the monopoly situation for close to 30 or more years and are not used to competition and their natural reaction is to run to the media and throw a lot of dust in the air to seem as if somebody is doing something wrong.”
Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Tuesday October 25, Mr Amole was of the view that effective competition in the industry could bring down cement prices below GHS20. He revealed that at the moment prices were hovering around GHS27.
“If cement prices are lower, many people in this country will be able to build. People are busily building their houses at this time because prices have reduced. They think the drop in the prices of the cement is because of the elections and that soon after the elections, the prices will shoot up. People are rushing to do all these things before the elections are over, meanwhile that should not be so,” he stated.
“In August, I called my friend who is in Port Harcourt in Nigeria to give me the prices of Dangote cement in Nigeria. I realised that Dangote was selling a bag of cement between N1500 and N1650 in Nigeria. When I checked the exchange rate, N1500 is about GHS19. So the question is that if they are able to sell cement in their own country at GHS19, are we not sure that when we bring these people in and create the enabling environment for them they can bring down cement prices to below GHS20 so that the Ghanaian can also afford?
“So when they say affordable housing, there is nothing called affordable housing in Ghana, because we have allowed people to hijack the market and control it and run it the way they want it to be.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
