Indian firms eye Ghana’s alternate energy sector

With Ghana scouting for Indian investment for its alternate energy sector, Indian firms have begun to join the rush to secure land in the West African nation for biodiesel production. India’s biggest investment so far in the African country, US$45 million, is by the Ghana arm of Hazel Mercantile Ltd., a Mumbai-based distributor of chemicals and petrochemical products. The company aims to cultivate jatropha in Ghana to produce biofuel. According to Augustine Acheampon Otoo, director of global and regional operations at Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), another Indian company has already started to secure land with the government. The second Indian company, he said, has made an investment commitment of US$40 million for cultivating jatropha and biofuel processing and has already set up an office in the country. India already has a substantial presence in the Ghanaian economy, and is the nation’s second highest foreign investor after China. (March 24, 2009)