Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng (Asabee) has toured the Ada Songor Salt project together with the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor (MP).
The two visited Songor on Saturday to assess the rate at which the salt project is going on. Mr. Asamoah Boateng who is the leading contender in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) national chairmanship race urged the company to create more jobs.
“Create employment for the youth of this area and the country at large,” he stated.
A Ghanaian salt mining company, Electrochem Ghana Limited secured a 15-year lease to resuscitate salt mining in the Ada Songor Lagoon to enhance the local and national economy.
A total of 60,000 tonnes of salt was mined from the enclave in 2020 with plans by the company to mine 200,000 tonnes this year on the back of its new investments.
The company is thus hopeful to increase its production capacity to 1 million tonnes in 2022 and subsequently to 2 million in 2023.
This projection was made after feasibility studies had been conducted in the enclave.
The salt produced from Ada Songor Lagoon is known to be of high quality on the international market.
“The salt produced from the Ada Songor Lagoon has been tested and is of high quality, comparable to any on the international market,” David Cameron, General Manager of Electrochem Ghana Limited said.
Hon. Asamoah Boateng, in his address, stated that SIGA has played a key role in the Salt Project and urged the Managers to work hard to break into the huge Nigerian market.
“Currently Nigeria imports expensive salt from Brazil and here we are very close to them. Let’s go grab the opportunity” he stated.
“You should also add value and get into chemicals,” Asabee added.
He praised the entrepreneurial acumen of Dr. Daniel Mckorley for this realization and the concern for the people of Ada and its environs and urged the chiefs, clans and the people of the area to rally behind the project.
Asabee indicated that his office, which supervises all State-Owned Enterprises and Joint Ventures, will make sure all support that will be needed for the project to achieve its targets will be duly provided.