China to help Ghana construct $1 bln plant

The Chinese envoy mentioned problems facing foreigners in the natural resource governance of the country as including the acquisition of land and rising resource nationalism, which had plagued many resource-rich countries and their development partners.

He further called on the Ghanaian authorities to streamline and boost the vitality of small-scale mining since the sector contributed about one-third of the total gold production and 100 percent of the country's diamond in 2013.

"The most important thing is to balance the interests of the stakeholders, mainly the government, mining communities and the investors. Policies to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the mining sector should be designed as soon as possible," Zhou appealed.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Green Growth, Dr Eric Twum, organizers of the conference, said the synergy between Ghana's resource availability, management and associated resource use benefits had over the years and in most cases not been fully met.

"Our institutions are not the best despite the numerous efforts. We are saddled with inefficiencies, uncertainty and difficulties in management, among others when natural resources come to mind," Twum said.

Ghana, Dr Twum said, lost about $90 million and $70 million due to stability agreements in the mining and oil and gas sectors in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

He therefore appealed to political leaders to desist from politicizing issues of natural resource governance and management.