Government to Expedite Action On Gas Production

Government will expedite action on efforts aimed at providing natural gas for industrial use, towards Ghana�s socio-economic growth and development. Minister for the Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, made the pledge at a Sustainability Summit in Tema, Accra yesterday. It was organized by Unilever Ghana on the theme �Influencing the Right Behaviour and Practices for Sustainable Growth and Development�. The event was aimed at providing a platform for stakeholders drawn from government agencies, civil society organizations, the private sector, and academia, to brainstorm on Unilever�s Sustainable Living Plan launched about a couple of years ago. The Minister said �we cannot maintain the progress we have made in eliminating poverty and eradicating hunger, unless we maintain an adequate resource base�. Ms Ayittey observed that development would require sufficient land, water, minerals and metal, and said that �we will also need healthy ecosystems capable of sustaining a wide range of biological diversity, including human life�. She commended Unilever for keeping faith with its customers through the execution of its corporate social responsibility programmes. Mr David Mureithi, Managing Director of Unilever (West Africa), said globally, besides product brand related activities, the company had played a leading role in developing a number of initiatives to drive sustainable development. Later, the Minister inaugurated a Combined Heat and Power Plant, to enable Unilever Ghana to use gas for its factory operations, instead of the residual fuel oil and the hydro-electric power it uses currently.