Government signs contracts with Chinese credit facility for 1D 1F initiative

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has signed a number of contracts with China National Building Materials (CNBM) Corporation.

Twenty two Engineering Procurement and Construction contracts were signed between some Ghanaian business executives, selected District Assemblies which were represented by the Ministry and CNBM, under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s flagship One-District, One-Factory (1D 1F) initiative.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten at the signing ceremony, indicated that plans are far advanced to implement similar projects in other districts in the not-so-far future.

According to him, the 1D 1F project would promote rural industrialization, tackle rural-urban migration, and also reduce import of certain goods.

“Through this initiative, we are going to enhance our export revenue capability and then also reduce the level of import coming into our country, not necessarily through import substitution but by producing goods which can compete with goods that we are importing. Equally important, it is to stem the drift of people from the rural areas into the urban centres. Because if things are happening in our rural communities, why will they struggle to come, waste their time and energy trying to find nonexistent jobs in our cities?” he posited.

According to reports available, as at March 2018, a total of 707 business plans had been submitted to the Ministry by business promoters, out of which 602 were reviewed by its Technical Support Group (TSG). 313 out of the reviewed business plans were found to be feasible, and positive for implementation.

The investment value for the twenty two projects is about $400 million, which is expected to generate significant economic benefits to the country such as tax revenue and employment creation.

CNBM will provide assistance to businesses to market their goods such as; starch, alcohol, vegetable oil, garments and services on the Chinese market.