The Minister of Environment, Science, and Technology, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, has announced that the Foundry and Machine Tooling Centre at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) premises in Accra is expected to be fully operational within the next four to five months.
According to the minister, the cost to complete the facility will be factored into the next government budget.
He pledged to consult the relevant ministries, particularly the Ministry of Finance, to secure approval for the project’s completion.
Speaking during a working visit to the facility on February 13, 2025, he stated that the facility is near completion, with an estimated progress of 95%.
“The last facility we visited was the foundry. If you look at the basic tools used for vehicles and other industries, we currently import most of them.
“The purpose of establishing this foundry is to enable us to produce these basic tools, including nuts, which can be easily accessed by our brothers at Abossey Okai. The project is about 95% complete, and we need slightly below 300 million Ghana cedis to finalize and operationalize it.
“All the machinery is already in place, and I can assure you that we will include this in the next budget. I have no doubt that we will secure favourable approval from the government and the Ministry of Finance to make it operational. My expectation is that within the next four to five months, the facility will be fully functional,” he stated.
The minister, who also serves as the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, assured the staff of his support in their service delivery.
“I will give everyone the freedom to showcase their potential, as long as their efforts align with the vision and policy direction of His Excellency the President.
“I hold no biases against any agency. What matters is that we all work with diligence and a profound sense of patriotism,” he added.
As part of his working visit to the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), the minister inspected various facilities, including the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory under the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute, the Ghana Research Reactor Centre, and the Radiation Protection Institute, among others.
AM/KA
