The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mining, George Mireku Duker has charged the Management and Staff of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) to ensure total transformation of the company to enable it assume a strategic position in government’s plans for the integrated aluminium industry which hinges on value addition.
According to him. VALCO under its current management has shown signs of making full recovery and that the Ministry is counting on them to revamp the company and return it to its once glorified status.
The deputy minister who made the call when he led a delegation from the Ministry to the smelter company Tuesday, August 8, 2023 urged management to woo investors, stressing that with the company now looking to turn a curve, it has become an attractive package for the investing public.
Mr Duker said VALCO is in a healthy state and is on the verge of becoming a profit-making company and that investors will not be making the wrong decision of investing in it.
He expressed confidence and optimism in the vision of the board and management for a positive future of VALCO whiles promising the ministry’s readiness to collaborate and facilitate the revamping of the company.
“I’m happy that we have people who will want to see VALCO revamped and as a country it sometimes worrying that we mine bauxite, export it in its raw form and turn around to import alumina at a very high cost. That’s why the President in his own wisdom brought up the idea of upscaling value addition along the value chain by turning the bauxite into aluminium in-country and that VALCO is key within these strategic plans”, he stated.
“I’m happy that Ghanaians will know VALCO is not going down as being discussed in the public domain. VALCO is in good hands and VALCO is going to progress. VALCO will be the shine of the country in a few years to come”, he added.
“I want to assure the investor public that VALCO is lucrative and open to the market and we believe whatever they invest won’t go to waste. We are available as a ministry to play our supervisory role and will ensure the company gets to an enviable pedestal ,” he said.
Mr. Daniel NII Kwartei Titus Glover, the CEO of VALCO provided a thorough overview of the state of the company, explaining that despite some challenges facing them, they have made some remarkable progress.
He outlined the management’s vision for the company which is to revamp and expand operations to ensure full utilization of the lines.
“As we stand now, we are not making full utilization of the lines. We were supposed to have 200 but because of the challenges, we are doing 117. The business plan is to achieve between 140 and 150 by close of the year”, he noted.
