Accra, Oct. 15, GNA - Ghana is to go into commercial production of pozzolana, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of Portland cement next year, Mr Saani Iddi, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, announced in Accra on Thursday.

He said the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) is collaborating with an investor whose name was not mentioned, and that they start commercial production next year.

Mr Iddi was speaking at the golden jubilee celebration of the first signing of Collectuive Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in 1959 between the Construction and Building Material Workers Union (CMBWU) and the foreign road and building contractors in Ghana.

Mr Iddi said the raw material is abundant in Ghana, saying that, the Ministry is ready to co-operate with the CMBWU in whatever research that would promote the production of alternative materials for housing and construction.

He said huge sums of foreign exchange is spent on the importation of building materials, especially clinker and gypsum, as well as pozzolana for the production of Portland cement, and that such production would reduce the cost of building materials.

Mr Iddi said one of the pertinent issues confronting the building, construction and materials industry include the over-dependence on imported building materials for which proven local alternative material have been developed at a competitive advantage.

Others are the inadequate utilization of the vast raw material resources of the country, low level capacity in the production of building and construction materials, and the weak interface between research and industry.

He appealed to the union to come out with suggestions on the designing and construction of cheap and effective manufacturing plants and equipment for the production of alternative materials for housing and construction. They should also consider the sustainability of large-scale production of such materials and cheaper ways of producing energy for firing bricks. 15 Oct. 09