1D1F: ADI 'rubbishes' Minority’s demand for gov't losses through tax waivers

The Alliance for Development and Industrialization, (ADI), has described as irresponsible a statement by the Minority in Parliament demanding how much the government has lost so far through tax waivers under the 1D1F programme.

“The minority is just acting out of immaturity and extremely irresponsible. What the minority should understand is that a waiver is given as at when a company is ready to establish a factory in the shores of Ghana which includes tax exemptions, tax holiday periods of up to five years among others,” according to a statement issued in Accra and signed by Francis Acquah, the acting executive President of ADI.

According to the statement, the minority is not acting professionally with regard to the ethics of business promotion.

“If you are looking at the long term of the economy anybody who brings a business under the umbrella of 1D1F program should be supported through such incentives since this would help to grow our economy as well as create jobs for the youth in the country”.

The statement explained that the concept of the 1D1F is just similar to the Ghana Free Zone Companies and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, where supports such as tax incentives are given to companies who want to establish their businesses here.

The minority should check from the GIPC and Ghana Free Zone Board if there is any capping on waivers that the government gives to companies as an incentive for them to establish here in Ghana.

“What the Minority is demanding from the government is just like asking Free Zone Board how much tax exemptions are you going to offer this year,” the statement said.

There are currently 45 of the One District One Factory projects operational out of 181 projects already on the drawing board, according to Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay.

Aside from 22 of the 181 projects, which are under construction, the remaining projects are set to commence implementation before the end of 2019.

The projects set to commence by the end of 2019 include small scale processing facilities, common user processing facilities financed from sources ranging from local private finance initiatives (PFIs), African Development Bank (AfDB) and CNB facility.