The Ghanaian Times reports that the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) in Tema, has since its establishment 3 years ago, injected over one billion dollars into Ghana's economy. In an inside page story, the Times says out of this amount, more than 700 million dollars was used to purchase electric power alone and the other 260 million dollars paid in corporate taxes, making VALCO the largest corporate taxpayer in the country.
Mr Festus Quaidoo, senior supervisor in charge of personnel and benefits, who disclosed this, is quoted as saying that about 20,000 dollars has been donated annually to Ghana's universities to support research and facility upgrades. He said VALCO also holds a huge market potential for local suppliers of goods, buying over 3 billion cedis worth of local goods and services a year.
In addition, the company provides grants to promote colts and inter-schools and colleges soccer to unearth talents for the national team. According to Mr Quaidoo said VALCO saves Ghana over 20 million dollars in foreign exchange annually, which otherwise would have been used to import aluminium raw materials for the local industry.
