1D1F: 296 projects at various stages of implementation – Trade Minister

From 2017 to date, 296 projects under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) Programme are at various stages of implementation, Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond, the Minister of Trade and Industry, has disclosed.

The breakdown includes 126 companies in operation, 143 companies under construction whereas 27 companies are pipeline projects.

Mr Hammond made the disclosure on Tuesday on the floor of Parliament in response to a question by Mr Desmond De-Graft Paitoo, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa East.

The MP wanted to know from the Minister how many factories had been built so far by the Government under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) Programme and how many of these factories are in partnership with private companies or organisations.

He reiterated that out of the 296 factories under the programme, 233 projects were established by private sector business promoters with the active facilitation of Government, while 63 1D1F projects were established directly by the Government.

“Mr Speaker, it must be noted that Government’s active facilitation of the private sector investment in 1D1F projects consists of special incentives including tax exemptions and the provisions of interest subsidies on loans granted by Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs),” Mr Hammond said.

“It also includes, where applicable, the extension of critical utilities such as access to electricity and water.”

He said the 63 Government-established 1D1F factories were agro-processing facilities financed with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) under the Ministry’s Rural Enterprise Programme (REP).

The Minister said these include 58 Enable Youth 1D1F projects established for youth groups while five were Common User Facilities established for farmer-based groups to operate.

The 1D1F initiative is the Government’s Policy to change the nature of Ghana’s economy from one which is dependent on import and export of raw material to one which is focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods.

The initiative, which is private sector led, seeks to create the necessary conducive environment for businesses to access funding from financial institutions and other support services from Government agencies to establish factories.