Investor Assures GCD Workers - I Won't Sack You

The General Manager of O.D. Diamonds International, Oded D. Dessau who in a joint-venture partnership with NTHC has bidden for the Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) at Akwatia, has announced that the company would retain the workers of GCD if it wins the bid.

Speaking to a host of journalists in Accra on Tuesady, the Israeli international processor and dealer in precious minerals explained that the purpose of investing in Ghana was to bring technical know-how to the people in the country and simultaneously create jobs for the unemployed.

Mr. Dessau said that he was motivated by the current economic climate and investment regime prevailing in the country.

Mr. Dessau, who has worked in the country for the past five years, said that he wanted to open a new page by bringing in all the experiences he had gained in jewelry manufacturing.

He stressed that the company would polish the jem before exporting them. This, he noted would increase the foreign exchange earning of the country.

Mr. Dessau also disclosed that he has factories in Japan, Russia and Israel, as well as Africa and was optimistic that his company would win the bid.

Apart from investing in the diamond industry, Mr. Dessau hinted that he was sinking $35million in diary and fish farming in Akwatia, which he noted would employ about a thousand people in the area.

He also said that plans were under way to acquire land in Accra where manufacturing of milk would be built.

For his part, Dr. Albert W.Q. Bannor, the director of NTHC, told journalists that the bid which was opened on May 12, this year, sought to introduce a new approach in the manner the company facilitated and enhanced the sale of government interests in state enterprises, which was in the past primarily being acquired through public floatation and sale of government shares and subsequent listing of the divested companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Dr. Bannor also said that the role of NTHC in the sale of government interests in the recent Produce Buying Company (PBC) and the Cocoa Processing Company Ltd (CPC), allow sale of majority interests in the state-owned enterprise to a foreign investor while preserving an element of Ghanaian ownership and influential participation.

Explaining further, Dr. Bannor said that the joint-partnership would explore other investment opportunities such as telecommunications, financial services and real estate finance and development.