The government has completed the Front-end Engineering Design (FEED) with the OCP Group of Morocco for a $1.3-billion project for the production of fertilisers locally from the country's natural gas, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has stated.
The Fertiliser Complex to be sited in Takoradi formed part of measures to diversify the Ghanaian economy and create value chains for the Mining and Oil and Gas Industries.
Dr Adam disclosed this during the launch of the 2020 Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) reports on Ghana's Oil and Gas Sector Revenues in Accra yesterday.
The Minister explained that the project which would be completed in three years, would help increase fertiliser availability and reduce input costs to farmers to fast-track the industrialisation of the agricultural sector.
He said the government strategy for the medium to long term is to leverage the country's Oil and Gas resources to establish the linkages and to boost the other sectors of the economy.
"Recent developments in terms of decline of our oil and gas production coupled with the potential negative impact of energy transition leading to low investment in the sector, call for the need to consider other areas with a view to ensuring diversification and reducing the impact on the economy for sustainable development," he stated.
Dr Adam said a total petroleum receipts for 2020 stood at US$666.39 million, compared with the 2019 receipt of US$937.58 million.
"The upstream oil and gas sector in Ghana contributed 3.7 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Ghana in 2020 and recorded a growth rate of -4.6 per cent (at constant 2013 prices)," he stated.
Dr Adam said proceeds from the export of minerals increased from US$ 6.678 billion in 2019 to US$ 6.998 billion in 2020, indicating that this translates into a 4.8 per cent year-on-year expansion in mineral revenue.
Dr Adam commended the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Multi-Stakeholder Group for developing the report.
He appealed to the GHEITI Multi-Stakeholder Group to expand the EITI reports on Oil and Gas and Mining to include report on climate change financing.
According to him, developing countries including Ghana were going to receive more finding on climate finance and there was the need to report on how those funds was used to ensure transparency.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He said Ghana as part of measures to combat climate change, would receive more climate change financing more than it made from Oil and Gas and Mining and therefore said it was important for GHEITI reporting to be expanded to climate change financing.
The Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mining, Mr Mireku Duker, said the development of the reports were in line with the African Mining Vision which was to use mining as a catalyst for development and achieve the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr Sulemanu Koney expressed worry about the delay of the reports and called on stakeholders to ensure that the report was published on time.
The Co-chair of GHEITI of the MSG, Dr Steve Manteaw, in his remarks said Ghana signed on the GHEITI to promote the transparent use mineral revenues.
He said the programme was extended to the Oil and Gas Sector in 2010 given the success the programme had achieved.
