Talks of negotiations between car assembly plants in the country – Kantanka, Volkswagen, Sinotrick and Nissan – and spare parts dealers for the manufacture of car parts are said to be currently happening.

Rumours of the negotiations was confirmed by the Co-chairman of the spare parts dealers association, Clement Boateng in a media engagement.

Speaking on the fears of job losses for persons in the second-hand car value chain in Ghana, Mr Boateng urged local stakeholders to position themselves to be able to take full advantage of the new opportunities presented through the establishment of foreign vehicle assembly plants in the country.

“As I’m talking to you now, those assembly plants which will start assembling vehicles here have entered into negotiations with the association to try as much as possible to partner them to try the production of small spare parts for which raw materials can be found in the country. Every country within Africa wants industrialization, so if our President has facilitated the coming to Ghana of automobile assemblers, then we have to take advantage of the opportunities that will come up,” he said.

“I don’t share in the idea that the assembling of cars here will throw some of us out of work. Because even currently some of the car agents here come to us to buy spare parts for their cars. So their arrival will only open up more opportunities for us to enter into production and thereby create more jobs for our youth,” he added.

In March this year, government made a strong case for the passage of a law that will formally lay the platform for Ghana’s automotive industry.

This was done through an amendment to the Customs Act, 2015 (Act 891), which provides some incentives to car manufacturers through the Ghana Automotive Industry Policy. It also places a ban on salvage cars and second-hand cars of not more than ten years old.

According to government, the move is aimed at making Ghana the hub for Automotive Industry in the West African sub-region.

Already, Toyota and Suzuki have formally committed to set up car assembly plants in Ghana. This was after Nissan and Sinotruk also expressed interest in Ghana, with Volkswagen already launching some locally made cars.

Currently, Ghana has three assembling plants, Volkswagen, Kantanka and the latest project by Japan Motors to assemble Nissan vehicles.