Gov’t welcomes Marubeni for power generation

Government has welcomed the desire of Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese business conglomerate, to operate as an independent power supplier.

This will help shore-up electricity supply across the country.

Vice President Kwesi BekoeAmissah-Arthur on Thursday gave the assurance that the government will expand the framework for “that kind of business” and encourage more companies.

“We will encourage some more companies to improve the quality of power supply,” the Vice President said at the Flagstaff House in Accra when a business and investment delegation from the Corporation, led by Mr. Naoto Nikai, the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, paid a courtesy call on him.

The delegation, on a three-day working visit to Ghana, has since held discussions with the Ministries of Finance and Trade and Industry, and will soon hold talks with the Ministry of Energy as well as hold a business networking session with Ghanaian business persons.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur urged the Corporation to move beyond the supply of equipment to the Volta River Authority (VRA), the main generator of electricity in Ghana, to a more direct participation in power generation.

He also invited the Corporation to invest in Ghana’s vast agricultural opportunities, adding that they could take advantage of the fertility of the soil in northern Ghana and establish sugarcane plantations and sugar processing plants there, an opportunity that has so far been limited to the southern sector.

Mr. Shigero Yamazoe, Marubeni Board Member for sub-Saharan Africa, said Maruabeni is one of the largest investment firms in Japan and expressed the Corporation’s strong interest for investment in Ghana.

Marubeni is involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors.

These areas encompass importing and exporting as well as transactions in the Japanese market related to food materials, food products, textiles, pulp and paper, chemicals, energy, metals and mineral resources, transportation, machinery and offshore trading.

The company's activities also extend to power projects and infrastructure, plants and industrial machinery, finance, logistics, real estate development and construction.

Additionally, Marubeni conducts business investment, development and management on a global level.

GNA

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