The Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for GOIL Ghana PLC, Kwame Osei Prempeh, is calling on government to immediately halt tax waivers on imported bitumen by local contractors.

This comes after the government commissioned the largest bitumen processing plant in Ghana, located at Tema in the Greater Accra region.

The state-of-the-art facility is the result of a joint venture between Ghana’s GOIL PLC and Côte d'Ivoire’s Société Multinationale de Bitumes (SMB).

The project is set to play a transformative role in the country’s road construction sector and industrial growth, reducing reliance on bitumen imports and positioning Ghana as a key player in the West African bitumen market.

Speaking at the commissioning of the project, Mr. Prempeh urged government to implement a policy that will encourage contractors to purchase Bitumen for roads locally.

"Your excellency for the country to derive much benefit from projects such as this, we humbly request that a policy that requires road contractors to source their Bitumen locally be put in place and enforced. Therefore, the practice where contractors are given tax waivers should be discouraged. Ghana stands to gain if measures are put in place to prevent low grades of Bitumen being imported into the country."

"Mr. President every effort must be made to prevent influx of Bitumen into the country through unapproved routes which will deny the country of the much needed revenue"He stressed

The GOIL/SMB Bitumen Plant has a total storage capacity of 7,500 metric tons and will process base bitumen imported from Côte d'Ivoire into high-quality polymer modified bitumen (PMB) and bitumen emulsions.

These products are critical to the development of durable road infrastructure, offering enhanced performance under extreme weather conditions and heavy traffic loads.

PMB, which is produced by adding polymers to standard bitumen, is known for its superior elasticity, strength, and resistance to cracking, making it ideal for use in high-stress areas such as highways and airport runways.