Bonsa Tyre equipment going waste

Bonsa (W/R), Oct. 15, - GNA - The new equipment worth several millions of dollars purchased to revive the Bonsa Tyre Factory have been lying idle for sometime now.

Raw materials, which the company imported to manufacture lorry tyres, are rotting while the Club House and some bungalows of the company are in a deplorable state.

These came to light when Osagyefo Kwamina Enimil VI, Paramount Chief of Wassa Fiase Traditional Area and his elders toured the company site to ascertain the status of the company.

Thread Extruder, Rubber Mixer, two 40 tonne steam boiler, among other new equipment which were purchased through a 30-million dollar loan from African Development Bank (ADB) to rehabilitate the factory are now going waste.

Briefing the Paramount Chief and his entourage, Mr Kofi Amankwa-Poku, General Manager of Bonsa Tyre Factory, who conducted the chiefs round the factory, said the machines are brand new and could function.

He said 24 skeleton staff, engaged by Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) do periodic services of the machines, some of which have not even been commissioned.

Mr Amankwa-Poku said when the company was in full operation it could produce 1,300 different tyres a day. He said the company, formerly known as Firestone, suffered a lot of managerial instability during the days of Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) until 1990 when a 30-million dollar loan was acquired to rehabilitate the company. After the purchase and installation of the equipment, he said, the government lost interest in operating the company and therefore wanted to divest it.

Mr. Amankwa-Poku said in 2000, all the workers except 24 were laid off, adding that, up to date their entitlements have not been paid. Osagyefo Enimil commended the skeleton staff for keeping the machines very well and promised to advocate for an investor to take over to create job opportunities in the area. In a comment, Mr Isaac Yaotey Ako, General Manager product support firm, said government should consider taking over the company again and institutes a trade barrier for the importation of second hand lorry tyres, which have been a cause of motor accidents on the roads.