ACCRA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's Fujian Sentuo Steel on Wednesday commissioned an 80-million-U.S. dollar ceramic tiles manufacturing company in Tema, 25 km east of Ghana's capital Accra, which is believed to help reduce the west African country's import burden of ceramic tiles.
In his speech at the inauguration the Fujian Sentuo Ceramic Tile Co., Ltd, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo described the facility as a significant investment in the economy of Ghana.
The president said he was happy that the new plant would employ about 1,300 Ghanaians from start, with the number expected to rise to about 5,000, while 90 percent of the raw materials needed by the factory would be sourced locally.
He urged members of the Kpone community where the factory is located to cooperate with the Chinese investors to ensure the success of the company.
"The purpose for setting up this project is to take advantage of the situation. The varied benefits of producing wall and floor tiles locally are substantial, including import substitution and value addition," said Xu Ningquan, managing director of the Fujian Sentuo Steel.
He lamented that almost all the floor and wall tiles used in the Ghana were, until about a year ago, imported from China, Europe and the United States even though Ghana is able to provide 80 percent of the raw materials for local tiles production.
