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Local cement manufacturers operating in the Western Region have been described as major sources for emerging jobs being created in the country in the last few months.

The establishment of Diamond Cement in Takoradi, which was commissioned last two weeks, in addition to an expansion drive carried out by GHACEM, and commissioned last year, have all contributed to new jobs created in Takoradi.

The Western Regional Coordinator of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Mr. Joseph Nelson, who made this known in an interview with The Finder, noted that the expansion of the Takoradi port and fishing harbour, which has culminated in serious ongoing construction activities, were all adding up jobs in the city and, by extension, the region.

Asked about the collapse of state-owned factories, against new establishments, emerging opportunities, and campaign promises by politicians on job creation, he said the attitude of Ghanaians towards state companies caused the collapse of the factories.

The Coordinator of the YEA explained that although the cement industry, for instance, was largely driven by private sector investors, the number of jobs being churned out was impressive and encouraging.

According to him, President John Dramani Mahama has recognised the phenomenal jobs created and has assured players in the cement industry that his administration would not countenance unfair competition aimed at kicking local cement manufacturers out of business.

He said, "Instead of allowing unfair competition to thrive and cause damage to local companies, the government would rather provide an enabling environment for industry players to grow".

President Mahama last week reacted for the first time to the issue of unhealthy competition being faced by some of the cement manufacturing companies operating in Ghana but indicated that despite the hullabaloo "The cement industry is growing phenomenally," the President had said.

According to the President, ongoing developments and construction activities in the country, have contributed immensely to the increasing demand for cement in Ghana.

Demand for the commodity, President Mahama explained, was currently competing with supply, therefore, providing equal opportunity for both local manufacturers and licensed importers of cement to do good business.

He explained why Dangote cement, one of the importers of the product into the country, was not being questioned by government because the company was using ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Strategy (ETLS) to back its operations.

“We cannot stop the competition because of the ETLS, but we must make sure they are playing by the rules so that they do not have an unfair advantage over our people”.

He assured local manufacturers that government had already tasked a commission to look into the Dangote matter, to ascertain whether indeed the company was really enjoying any tax wavers from Nigeria, the home country.

President Mahama urged the Ghanaian cement manufacturing companies, and all other local manufacturers, to also take advantage of the ECOWAS trade convention, to discover new markets in the sub-region.

He eulogised Diamond cement, Ghacem, two of the local manufacturers currently expanding their operations in Takoradi, stating that the industry was becoming one of the incubators for job creation.

He urged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to utilise opportunities being created by government and work towards identifying good platforms to assist them to open new companies that can create additional jobs in the country.

He said although government was trying hard to overcome the growing unemployment situation in Ghana, without the full backing of the private sector, the unemployment syndrome would remain threatening.

He urged graduates to also consider seeing themselves as potential employers and not necessarily employees constantly struggling to find jobs.