Bauxite refinery to be established at Yabiw- Shama MP

Government’s drive towards value addition to our raw material production is gathering some momentum, as bauxite mined in the country are going to be refined before exporting. With the initiative for bauxite mining, government is determined to establish two refineries in the country.

A consideration is being taken to establish one of these refineries at Yabiw of the Shama District, to refine rich bauxite from Awawaso.

Member of Parliament for Shama, AtoPanford told Skyy News’ Abraham Mensah at the sidelines of an annual general conference of the NPP Chapter of the Shama Constituency indicated that the refinery shall be sited in the Yabiw free zones enclave.

“Bauxite mine from Awaso comes to Takoradi port and then mostly it used to be by rail, the rail went down and then they were using road… the trucks were hauling from Awaso through our constituency to the port. In fact the paradigm have to change and the president have taken that bold steps that we are going to set up refinery. Now we should look at the dynamic positioning of Shama and the industrial enclave that we have, it gives us better leverage for us to have the refinery here. Conversation are going on there is every clear indication Shama is going to get this refinery”.

Hon. Panford contends that the Yabiw Free Zones enclave is an advantageous location due to its closeness to the port, power supply and land. He is optimistic the establishment of the refinery will create jobs for the unemployed youth in the area.

“There will be about two of them, and if you look at the technology in refinery you will need sea water or sea salt, we are close to it. Now this waste to energy plant that is coming to Yabiw, also gives us leverage to produce power- about 33 MW of power to also feed into bauxite refinery plant directly. It requires a lot of power and then we are going to use the waste generate being generated within western region”, he clarified.

credit: skyypowerfm.com