Russian car manufacturer to establish assembly plant in Ghana

GNA – Russian truck manufacturer, Kamaz, has announced plans to establish an assembly plant in Ghana by the end of this year.

It would assemble trucks and other equipment for the local market and possibly the West Africa sub-region.

Sergei Kogogin, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the plant could be up and running by the end of this year.

“We want to support the government’s industrialisation and agricultural programme. Our vehicles could be useful in the agriculture regions especially cocoa and other agricultural produce areas, if officials finally approve the terms of production agreement to realise this project.”

Kamaz has had series of consultations with top officials at the Ministries Trade and Industry, and Agriculture as well as One District One Factory (1D1F) Secretariat.

The company seeks to expand its presence in West Africa after opening another assembly plant in Senegal towards the end 2018.

“Currently Senegal’s government is in the final round of talks with the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR) on state guarantee for deals planned by Kamaz, which exceed €50 million at the first stage.”

“After that we are getting to, in fact, we have already started Senegal-based Kamaz assembly plant engineering,” Kogogin added.

The Government of Senegal is currently discussing Russian Export Center (REC) about financial support for the technical operations of Kamaz because REC was created to identify and support export-oriented Russian industries.

The Russian Government has earmarked about US$1 billion to support export-oriented Russian industries that work through REC.

Kamaz has operations in South Africa where it signed an agreement with the Bell Company to manufacture and distribute about 1,500 trucks.

According to the company’s profile, Kamaz is the largest automobile corporation in Russia. The company produces trucks, trailers, buses, tractors, engines, power units, and different tools.

It is 16th among the leading global producers of heavy tracks and 8th in terms of diesel engines output volume.

The first Kamaz truck rolled off the production line on February 16, 1976 and has now become a leading manufacturer of heavy trucks in Russia.

GNA