Keta Industrial salt estate to support petrochemical sector

Government of Ghana is to establish an Industrial Salt Estate at Keta in the Volta Region, to produce sufficient volumes of salt to support the country’s petrochemical industry.

“The Keta Industrial Salt Estate is going to generate and support the downstream petrochemical and industrial sector,” Hannah Tetteh, Trade and Industry Minister disclosed.

Government has commissioned a specialized team to undertake a feasibility study to guide the development of the estate.

The submission of the final report to commence the establishment is expected to be ready by April this year, and would be the blue print to guide the creation of the estate next year.

Ms. Tetteh made known to B&FT, in Accra, that government recognises that salt is a key industrial component in the petrochemical industry and has sourced funding from the China Development Bank for the operation of the Salt estate.

“The Ministry of Trade, UNICEF and the Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition are already collaborating to support the Universal Salt Iodization Programme through the establishment of eight salt Banks in the major salt-producing areas along the coast,” Tetteh said.

Analysts are optimistic that the country stands to rake in extra hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, provided it is able to revamp its salt industry to supply the expected one million metric tonnes (mt) to be required annually by its nascent oil industry.

Salt is usually used to dispose off waste during the production of crude oil.

The country’s annual salt production of 250,000mt falls far short of its potential, estimated at between 2.5 and 3.0 million mt.

Ghana’s coastline had long been identified as one of only a couple, along the entire stretch of Africa’s Atlantic coastline, capable of producing salt in commercial quantities.

The commencement of oil production in commercial quantities in the country’s offshore has now raised the prospects of the country’s salt industry getting the needed attention to improve its fortunes.

A 2008 collaboration between the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Center for Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Services and UNICEF, established the National Geographic Information Systems to provide the right information needed for an accelerated growth of the industry.

From the effort, investors can now benefit from an information gateway, a database for the salt industry contours on producing areas in the country and detailed information on towns where there is salt, as well as pictorial presentations on the salt industry in the country.