Government of Ghana stands to lose over two hundred millions Ghana cedis revenue from the mining operations of RCP quarry concession at Ablekuma in Accra if concrete measures are not put in place to enforce existing rules and regulations with law and order.
The RCP, a quarry company was established in 1999, and commenced business operation on January 1st 2000, to produce quarry stones, chippings and various concrete products for the construction of roads and other infrastructure project for both local and the international supervised contracts.
RCP which is a leader in the concrete products supplier industry in Ghana, was the main supplier of raw materials for the construction of Tema Container terminal, Tema Meridian Port Service Container Terminal, Tamale International airport, George Walker Bush N1 road, Eastern Corridor road, Labadi beach hotel, Muvinpick ambassador hotel among a host of them.
The company has employed over 230 permanent workers and indirect employment for One Thousand people such as engineers, road contractors, truck drivers, equipment and spare parts suppliers, consultants, security and producers of concrete materials within and without their catchment area of operations.
The minerals which have mined by the company are also under protection by laws due to their importance for the development of the country. Such minerals are not everywhere available; therefore laws have been put in place to protect such minerals and the mining thereof as a matter of national interest.
The table below shows the revenue generations based on reserve over next 15-20 years to the government of Ghana.
Revenue Operator [GH¢]: RCP ABLEKUMA
Reserves [tons] 7,830,000
Revenue @ GH¢ 40 per ton 313,200,000
Revenue GoG [GH¢]:
VAT/NHIS [GH¢] 54,810,000
Royalties [GH¢] 16,600,000
Extra cost for Haulage [GH¢] 195,750,000
Conveyance Fee [GH¢] 7,830,000
Total cost GoG [GH¢] 274,990,000
Exclusive: Tax, permits, fees, lisences
However, the government of Ghana is on the blink of losing these revenues due to continue encroachment on the concession of the company despite several education and dialogue with community and opinion leaders in the operational area.
According to the mining regulations, individuals should not be within 500 meters from blasting site of a mining concession. Explosive Magazines 320 meters from the public road, 480 meters from the dwelling of houses and 960 meters from buildings such as Churches, schools and hospitals. The company created a 500m buffer zone by planting trees around the concession. Despite the companies best efforts this protective forestation are has been destroyed by encroachers during the last 6 years. These are the same encroachers who built houses without permits on government land and call themselves now residents complaining about the operation of the company.
To even make matters worse, quarry pit for the mining of granite and surrounding areas have been turned into a dumping site and on daily basis, refuse are burnt to pollute the environment and every single effort to get the residents put a stop to this unhealthy situation has fallen in deaf ears.
All these activities are within the catchment area of the Wieja Lake and thus threatening the supply of potable water to millions of residents who depend on the dam.
The Managing Director of the company Mr. Christian Braun has expressed fear that their investment may go down in the drain if government do not intervene, adding that, the threatening situation may compel them to shut down their investment and this may not only affect revenue generations but also thousands of people may lose their livelihood.
He accused opinion leaders of Zongo community – Ablekuma for doing nothing to help the situation, citing several instances where opinion leaders mobilize residents to even attack them. A situation he described as unfortunate and hostile to the conducive investment climate the government is trying to create to attract foreign direct investment.
Mr. Christian Braun appealed to the government to enforce existing rules and regulations and reinstall order and discipline to safeguard our multimillion dollars investment and the livelihood of thousands Ghanaians whose day to day life depends on the concession as a basic principal to protect investment and jobs.
Source: Maruf Ibrahim/[email protected]
