Ghana's heavy equipment wins deal for Chinese

The State owned Ghana Heavy Equipment Limited (GHEL) had secured the license to distribute earth-moving machines of Chinese firm, Liugong, Minister for Trade and Industry Hannah Tetteh announced here on Tuesday. It has also secured the dealership rights for distributing similar equipment of Indian manufacturers, BML. Addressing the media here, the minister said the company had already started distributing various models of the Luigong products to Chinese firms working in the West African country. In addition, Tetteh said, GHEL had also distributed tractors to farmers and corporate institutions in the country. GHEL is a government-owned limited liability company with its main business focusing on the sale and servicing of earth-moving equipment and agricultural machinery. The company was carved out and established as a whole commercial enterprise in 1995 when its mother-company, Ghana National Trading Company (GNTC), was put on divestiture. Until recently, GHEL was the sole distributor of Komatsu earth- moving equipment for the mining, construction and timber industries in Ghana. This franchise has however been lost to another competitor, Mantrac. This new business, the minister said, was an equally good replacement for what had been lost to their competitors. "Equipment brought into the country so far, including tractors, have helped improve agriculture, create jobs and enhance the livelihoods of many people," Tetteh pointed out. According to the minister, the GHEL has also been able to penetrate the West African market with the provision of services and the supply of spare parts. The minister also announced the establishment of a Tariff Advisory Board (TAB) to deal with complaints from Ghanaian manufacturers. There had been several complaints by local producers, claiming that products which had been enjoying high subsidies in their source countries had been entering the Ghanaian market, some illegally, and competing with locally manufactured goods. "Much as we would like to deal with these complaints, most of them come with anecdotal evidence which is untenable in international trade circles," Tetteh said. She therefore said the TAB would deal with evidence based complaints which would help in dealing with issues of protecting local manufacturers against unfair competition.