President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo says the much-talked-about Komenda Sugar Factory in the Central Region will be operationalized fully by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
According to him, the government, led by the Ministry of Trade and Industry is in the process of finalizing agreements with the technical partners to run the factory.
The Komenda Sugar Factory was established in the 1960s but rendered defunct due to technical and operational challenges, was revived by the Ex-President John Mahama-led administration in 2016 with a US$35 million loan facility from India and a US$1.5 million counterpart funding by the government of Ghana.
Unfortunately, the factory could not operate as expected and has since been neglected.
The current government made arrangements with a private investor to operationalize the factory but had the contract canceled due to his inability to meet certain conditions.
The youth in Komenda have subsequently made several appeals to the government and the trade ministry to operationalize the Komenda Sugar Factory to create jobs for young people in and around the area.
In wake of the recent attention, the abandoned project has received in the media space, the president while speaking in an interview Eagle FM earlier this morning as part of his two-day tour of the region assured residents of plans to revive the factory in the shortest possible time adding that huge investments went into the construction of the sugar factory hence cannot be left abandoned.
“Right now, the ministry is working to get technical partners to run the factory. According to the minister of trade and the people in the trade ministry, an arrangement made so far indicates that by the first quarter of 2022, the factory is going to start running again” President Akuffo Addo disclosed.
SOURCE: ATL FM/VERA SIRIPI
