Government’s industrialisation agenda is not rhetoric - Osafo-Maafo

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Senior Minister, has said the government’s industrialisation agenda to transform the nation is not mere rhetoric, but has pragmatic policies that would ensure its realisation.

He said government was determined to building an industrial park in each of the 10 regions adding that the Industrial Park for the Greater Accra Region had already started at Dawa.

He said government was undertaking the project in partnership with private investors from Mauritius and that over 600 project proposals under the “One District One Factory” programme had been received and evaluated, with 170 being rated viable and bankable.

Mr. Osafo-Maafo made this known in a speech read on his behalf by Mr. John-Peter Amewu, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, at the 13th Surveyors Week and 49th Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GIS) in Accra, at the weekend.

The event was held on the theme: “Industrialisation and Wealth Creation in Ghana: The Role of the Surveyor”.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said over the years surveyors had demonstrated to be professionals who were critical thinkers and reason logically and called for more collaboration between them and government to enhance the fortunes of Ghanaians.

“When the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ILOS) ruling was made it was the surveyors who accepted the challenge to breakdown the complex issues so that the ordinary Ghanaian could appreciate what was going on,” Mr Osafo-Maafo said.

The Senior Minister commended the Institution for proffering solutions to help address the galamsey menace, build more resilient cities and reduce disasters.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said the professional services of surveyors would be required in infrastructure expansion, land and building acquisition, construction project management, facilities management, project financing, investment advisory services and other areas and, thus, asked them to position themselves to take advantage of those emerging opportunities.

“The relationship that government is looking forward to is one that will yield mutually rewarding outcomes to both parties. You have skills and expertise to support government in driving the industrialisation agenda,’’ he noted.

For the past 60 years, he said, Ghana’s economic development model had been framed along the simple case of exploiting and harvesting natural resources for sale on the global market.

That approach had not been helpful and sustainable in view of erratic climate change, rapid population growth and global commodity price volatilities.

Mr Osafo-Maafo, therefore, said the surest way for wealth creation and shared prosperity was to anchor the country’s development drive on industrialisation, which would result in value addition and job creation.

“Countries which chose the route of industrialisation have made significant progress at developing by creating sustainable jobs, increasing government revenue and providing the needed quality of life for the citizens,” he said.

Mr. Egbert Kwadwo Hohoabu, the newly inducted President, in his inaugural address, gave the assurance that the Institution would work collaboratively with government to achieve its industrialisation agenda to propel the development of the country forward.

The Ghana Institution of Surveyors rewarded the Technical Team that worked on the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire maritime boundary dispute, which saw Ghana achieving successes at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in Germany last year, with citations and certificates.

Members of the Team include; Emmanuel Mohen, Former Director at the Survey and Mapping Division of the Lands Commission, Reverend Dr. John Aryee, a Senior Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Cosmax Asante, a Lecturer at the Geometric and Engineering Department at the KNUST and Joseph Tetteh Odametey, Former President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors.

Mr Edwin Addo-Tawiah, the outgoing President of the GIS, symbolically decorated Mr Hohoabu with the Insignia of Office after taking the Oath of Office.