Ghacem responds to World Bank comments

Ghana’s leading cement producer, Ghacem, has refuted a report by the World Bank that the company is enjoying dominance over the domestic construction sector.

The World Bank is reported to have expressed concerns over the control of Ghacem and Diamond Cement over the local building sector, thus suppressing competition which is having a negative impact on cement prices and supply.

However, Ghacem’s strategy and corporate affairs director, Dr George Dawson-Ahmoah has denied these criticisms. Speaking to the Graphic business newspaper, he stressed that Ghacem's monopoly was broken 12 years ago by the emergence of other production companies like Wacem, producers of Diamond Cement who operate from Aflao in the Volta region.

“Ghacem do not enjoy monopoly in the cement industry, monopoly is a thing of the past now especially because there are other players in the cement market. There is the Greenview International Limited operating in Tema community 2, Savanna Cement, operating from Buipe in the Northern Region, and Fortress International which imports bagged finished cement among others”, he noted.

Dr Dawson-Ahmoah reiterated that Ghana has a trade liberalisation policy which allows business entities interested to import any product or establish manufacturing units to do so, provided they go through the correct procedures.

He added that Ghacem is open to any fair and equal terms competition so far as the manufacturing and supplier of cement in Ghana is concerned