Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Bitumen plant can help reduce cost of road construction

Yesterday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inaugurated the $40-million African Bitumen Terminal at Tema.

The terminal is a joint venture between GOIL Ghana Limited and Societe Multinationale de Bi­tumes SMB) of La Cote d’Ivoire.

It will be recalled that in June 2019, the sod-cutting was per­formed in Tema for the construc­tion of the first-ever bitumen plant in the country at the time Mr John Peter Amewu was the Energy Minister and stood in for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the ceremony.

It is indisputable that in this country sod-cutting is done for certain projects but either the construction delays unduly or they are completely abandoned.

This mostly happens in cases of government-funded projects and the reasons for that state of affairs are best known to the Ex­ecutive, including the President.

In the face of this, the Ghana­ian Times commends GOIL and SMB for delivering the dream project in five years.

Thank God even though GOIL is a state-owned oil and gas marketing company, it kept to its resolve to uphold the partnership such that today, the country can boast its own bitu­men plant.

We recall that while con­gratulating GOIL and SMB on the venture at the sod-cutting ceremony in June 2019, President Akufo-Addo made a statement to the effect that the bitumen facility is a classic example of the potential cooperation in develop­ment worthy of emulation in the ECOWAS sub-region.

It is on record that the partner­ship with SMB dates as far back as 2003 when GOIL decided to market bitumen.

For this reason, the SMB also deserves commendation for playing the role expected of it since GOIL struck the partner­ship with it.

The facility the country has now gives it certain advantages or benefits that cannot be underes­timated.

It will produce the volumes of Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB), and other bituminous products necessary to meet the demands of the country’s grow­ing infrastructure sector.

The implication is that the country would stop the impor­tation of bitumen and related products to save the country the huge amounts of hard currency used to import these products.

Last year, GOIL reported that the country was on course to reduce the $11.8 billion average annual bitumen import bill with its commercial production of polymer-modified bitumen (PMB).

It said with Ghana’s estimated 192,000 tonnes a year demand for bitumen, its 240 tonnes per day bitumen capacity, or more than 87,000 tonnes per year would help to bridge the gap significantly.

It is hoped that the new facil­ity would surmount all nascent problems and continuously expand to eventually meet the country’s demands so that one day the importation of bitumen and related products would be consigned to history.

That way, hopefully, the cost of road construction in the coun­try would be reduced so that more roads could be constructed.

We know GOIL would bring out excellent products that would improve the quality and longevity of roads in the country, some­thing which is a great wish of every Ghanaian.

It is a pity that some roads constructed in the country do not last even a year and they begin to develop potholes and all manner of defects.

The Ghanaian Times believes the bitumen plant would help transform the road sector of the country for the better.