We are here to formalise and regulate the auto industry — GADC

As the future looks promising for the auto industry in the country, stakeholders in the industry including the government last year converged to form the Ghana Automotive Development Centre (GADC).

Under the auspices of the Ministry for Trade and Industry, the centre embodies representatives of the Ghana Standard Authority, Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Authority (DVLA), Customs Division of the GRA and other players in the auto sector.

The Centre’s main role is to actualize the vision of the Ghana Automotive Development Policy (GADP) and this is what Mr Kojo Annobil, the head of GADC and his team are working hard to realise.

“The centre was formed to create a platform for players in the auto industry to address their concerns and issues; to see through the realization of the GADP and seek the interest of local assemblers in the industry,” Mr Annobil told the Graphic Business in an interview at the Centre’s head office in Accra.

He added that one of the centre’s mandate is to work with stakeholders to cut down the use of savage and over-aged vehicles while carving out modalities to make locally assembled and imported vehicles very affordable in the country.

“We accommodate all stakeholders related to auto in the country to ensure the formalization and complete regulation of the industry,” he stated.

GADP

The Ghana Automotive and Development Policy (GADP) also known as ‘The Auto Policy’ was fashioned out by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2019 and was geared towards making Ghana a fully integrated and competitive industrial hub of the automotive industry in the West African sub-region.

It also aims to generate highly skilled jobs in automotive assembly and the manufacture of components and parts, with spillover effects into other sectors of the economy; while establishing an asset-based vehicle financing scheme for locally manufactured vehicles to ensure affordability for vehicle buyers.