President Of Ghana Visits Motherwell Bridge To Announce Multi-Million Dollar Contract

The President of Ghana paid a visit to leading engineering group Motherwell Bridge, as the company released details of a US $6.5m contract with his country.

Motherwell Bridge was the only Scottish company to host President Jerry Rawlings during his unofficial 72 hour visit to the UK, emphasising the Group’s close relationship with the West African nation.

President Rawlings, whose father was born in Scotland, was escorted around Motherwell Bridge’s HQ in Motherwell by the Group’s chairman Ian Preston, chief executive John Lumsden and Archie Bethel, Managing Director, Engineering Division.

Motherwell Bridge has been involved in Ghana, then still known as the Gold Coast, since the mid-1950’s, when it built all the oil storage facilities for the BP plant in the Takoradi area.

The current US$6.5m order is for three large storage tanks for the Tema oil refinery, on the outskirts of the capital Accra, and this brings the total value of work won by the company in Ghana in recent years to over £40m. Included in this have been engineering projects carried out at the Takoradi power station, the Ashanti gold fields and the Tema petroleum refinery.

Additionally, President Rawlings was shown the latest expansion of the company’s aerospace manufacturing facilities at Motherwell.

Ian Preston, Chairman of the Motherwell Bridge Group, said: “We are very proud that President Rawlings took time out from his busy schedule to honour Motherwell Bridge with his presence.

“The Motherwell Bridge Group has close ties with Ghana stretching back almost 50 years and we are pleased that these have been recognised at the very highest level in the country.

“For the past fifteen years, the company has operated a permanent facility in Ghana and we have been a major employer of local personnel at our Ghanaian bases. We also have a policy which has seen a number of Ghanaians come over to our Motherwell location for training in modern engineering skills.

“In fact, we have just completed training 20 welders from Ghana in advanced welding techniques to enable them to work on the installation of these new storage tanks. This emphasises our very real commitment to the country.