WALID AL ALAMI
CEO
People have used steel since ancient times and rely on it to construct buildings, erect infrastructure, and manufacture millions of indispensable consumer products. It’s an essential material of modern life and a fundamental part of the global economy. The iron and steel sector is also the largest emitter of CO2 gases among heavy industries, and the second largest consumer of energy. So it’s critically important to redouble efforts to support energy efficiency and accelerate the sourcing of scrap steel for the production of new materials.
IFC’s $12 million loan last year to Rider Iron and Steel Ghana Limited will finance the construction of a new steel manufacturing plant and will increase Ghana’s total production of steel by more than 75 percent – using mostly locally sourced scrap steel. What’s more, it will create more than 13,000 new jobs up and down the value chain.
By adapting a more circular economy approach to manufacturing, the new plant will operate with an energy efficient induction furnace that uses 100% steel scrap as the main ingredient, reducing its carbon footprint compared to steel made from iron ore. Increased domestic steel production from the new Rider plant will reduce imports and help conserve foreign exchange by approximately $125 million annually.
“The visit in 2019 from IFC introduced us to new circular initiatives that we were able to introduce at our factories. One hundred percent of the steel we make is made out of scrap steel. With the new factory we will be the biggest producer of steel in Ghana,” said Walid Al Alami, Rider Steel’s CEO.