Ghana on the Go

Barely two years old, Ghana is one of those raw, resource-rich republics that yearn to leap into a modern economy. Last week, in a prime example of how private enterprise can help a developing country get set for such a bold jump, the Kaiser Industries Corp. circulated an ambitious (3 Ibs.) blueprint for building a major aluminum industry from Ghana's two abundant, untapped resources: red bauxite (aluminum ore) and cheap water power. So enthusiastic was Ghana that it started work immediately on the $600 million project. To Kaiser went the first contract--$3,000,000 for site-clearing and design work.

The Kaiser plan, masterminded by ten experts who hopscotched the country for six weeks, foresees harnessing the power of the crocodile-infested Volta River to work aluminum plants. First step is to build a 230-ft.-high dam near Kosombo (see map), 60 miles northeast of Accra, then add two satellite dams. They would generate 974,000 kw. (100 times as much as produced now in Ghana), back up a man-made lake that would equal the world's biggest (3,500 sq. mi.), which itself would create a new fishing industry to improve the protein-shy Ghanaian diet. Cost of dams, generating plants, power lines: $325 million.

Meantime, another $275 million would be spent to develop Ghana's bauxite reserves and to bolster rail lines running to the Tema area, where a smelter would turn out 220,000 tons of aluminum a year. The metal would be shipped from a port abuilding at Tema.

Three years ago, when Ghana was still the British colonial Gold Coast, a British team submitted a similar plan--but it was too costly. By using what the British called "exceptional" U.S. engineering methods, Kaiser cut projected costs from $900 million in the original British plan to $600 million, boosted power capacity by 40% and aluminum capacity by 10%, reduced building Lime from eight years to five. Equally important, Kaiser's Volta plan would slash power costs--now 23 mills per kw-h in Ghana--to 2 or 2 1/2 mills for aluminum processors, 6 or 7 mills for others. Such a price is reasonable enough to spawn a whole family of new industries in Ghana.

But where will the $600 million bankroll come from? Ghana, which enjoys a trade surplus as the world's biggest producer of cocoa, can ante up $70 million. This month it will send a team of ministers to Washington to dicker with the World Bank and U.S. foreign-aiders, who regard Ghana as a first-rate investment risk. Says Aluminium Ltd. of Canada, which has rights to Ghana's major bauxite reserves and sees the Volta plan as an eventual certainty: "We would be interested in forming a consortium with U.S. firms to develop the project."

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