Government to review operations at Komenda sugar factory

Government has given the latest indication that it will review operations of the Komenda Sugar Factory commissioned last year by former President Mahama to get that factory running optimally, Mr Reginald Yofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), has disclosed.

The erstwhile NDC government revamped the Komenda Sugar Factory in May 2016 after several years of inactivity, having secured a $35million Indian Exim Bank facility in 2014 to bring the Sugar Factory back to life.

The factory was expected to have swung into full production of sugar in November, last year, but the plan was met with challenges, including impact of illegal mining (galamsey) activities that were reported to have affected the availability of fertile lands for the cultivation of sugarcane to feed the factory.

Speaking to the media in Accra on his return from Malaysia, where Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia led a 30-member delegation for an official visit, the GIPC boss said government will continue to create the necessary conditions for the production of sugar and reduce the over reliance on the imported product and eventually cut down the high import bills.

The four-day mission organised in collaboration with the Board of Investment (BOI) Mauritius was to provide a platform for interaction between Ghanaian companies and their peers in that country and deepen the growing levels of trade and investment between the two counties.

Explaining further, Mr Grant said he had gone into an agreement with the Mauritius Institute of Sugarcane Research Institute to collaborate in the area of capacity-building to support the cultivation of sugarcane in Ghana.

The Mauritians, he disclosed, had already shown interest in creating sugar estates in Northern Ghana.

“Already, the Integrated Water and Agricultural Development Ghana is engaged in the empowering people and improving livelihoods in the Northern part of Ghana through the substantial production volumes of sugarcane,” the GIPC boss stated.