The government says it is putting in place all necessary mechanisms to revamp the dilapidated Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), which is a strategic asset for the country.
‘’There is no gain saying the fact that TOR is a strategic asset and needs to be turn round. TOR must work again,” says the Minister of State for Energy, Mr Herbert Krapa, during his visit to the refinery at Tema on Tuesday.
It was the minister’s maiden visit since he was appointed and it aimed at having first-hand information, touring of the plant site and interacting with management.
According to Mr Krapa, it was not late for the government to take the necessary steps to revamp the facility, saying that it was President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo’s vision to see this through.
He said the government would hold a series of engagement with management to ensure that refining of petroleum products would begin soon, whilst TOR waits for a strategic partner.
The minister advised that while these measures were being pursued, there should be peace and harmony among workers, union, management and other stakeholders.
A Deputy Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority, Mr Perry Okudzeto, said as the regulator of downstream activities, the authority would provide all the support for TOR to get back on its feet.
The Managing Director of TOR, Kofi Tagoe Mokumbi, commended the minister and his team for the visit.
TOR owned by the Government of Ghana was incorporated on December 5, 1963.
It was built by Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkurmah to enhance the country’s economic, investment and development programmes.
However, over the decades, the facility had been incapacitated due to liquidity difficulties the company had been unable to refine crude oil.
For now, it only receives refined oil into its storage tanks that is imported by private oil companies and charge fees.
The tour also took the minister and his entourage to the Sentuo Oil Refinery also in Tema, where he interacted with the management and tour their facility.
He lauded the management for huge investment, saying that it would go a long way to help Ghana’s development drive.
He called for collaboration between Sentuo Oil and TOR, rather than each other seeing themselves as competitors in the industry.
According to him, it was only through collaboration that the industry could be sanitised.
He appealed to the management of Sentuo to take advantage of some of the facilities of TOR, explaining that TOR had many storage tanks which Sentuo could hire.
Executive Chairman of Sentuo Group, Xu Ningquan, said his outfit was looking at a future collaboration with TOR for the production of Petrol Chemical Product not only for local consumption but export.
At the Tropical Cable and Conductors Limited also in Tema, Mr Krapa commended the company for it strive in the industrial space and market.
He noted the Tropical Cable was a model which should be supported by government due to its contributions to the economy.
The minister said the visit was about government knowing their difficulties and how to support them.
The managing Director of Tropical Cable, Mr Dominic Klattbach, stated that the company was facing marketing challenges due to the dumping of cheap and inferior electrical product in the country.
FROM IAN MOTEY, TEMA
