KSC ready to explore investments in Ghana’s Sugar Industry

Kenana Sugar Company (KSC), the world’s largest and a Sudan-based integrated sugar company, on Monday expressed readiness to invest in the country to increase the production and use of sugarcane.

The company said it was willing to bring its expertise and resources to help Ghana transform the business environment in the processing of sugar into diversified sector.

Mr Hamid Mohammed Sheriff, General Manager of Kenana Engineering and Technical Services West Africa, gave the assurance in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the opening of the Sudan-Ghana Business, Culture and Higher Education Expo in Accra.

The three-day Expo was organised by the Sudanese Embassy in Ghana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment in Sudan and the Ministry of Business Development in Ghana, with the aim of building a strong trade partnership with the two African countries.

Mr Sheriff said Kenana, which was considered as an African success story, currently managed 50,000 hectares of sugar cane and produced more than 400,000 metric tons of sugar per day.

He said: “Ghana has the potential and Kenana has the little knowledge gained over the last 40 years and we are ready to put our heads together to develop our potentials, our countries and our continent.”

He observed that sugarcane was not a mere crop but a strategic one as it was not only a source of green energy for electricity generation, but also produced other products including ethanol and animal feed.

Mr Sheriff indicated that sugar could be used to generate electricity to support the national grid.

“Kenana produced 25 Megawatts of electricity with their old technology but is going to produce over 125 Megawatts of electricity.”

Dr Abdel-Majeed Haroun, who represented Cos Theta Consult Ghana, told GNA that Ghana had the land available but lacked the resources to exploit the potentials in the sugar sector.

He stated the readiness of the country to collaborate with KSC to transform the sugar plantation industry.

Dr Haroun said the country really needed massive sugar cane plantation because Ghana could boast of vast arable land for its production.

He said the resources Ghana would be bringing on board land and labour.

The Sudan-Ghana business, culture and higher education expo 2017 was on the theme: “Towards Sudan-Ghana Meaningful Partnership: Investing in the Future” and was attended by Sudanese and Ghanaian conglomerates.

Some of the institutions present included the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Association of Ghana Industries, Afro-Arab Group of Companies, International Chamber of Commerce, Sudatel- the Sudanese national telecommunication company, and Haggar Holding Company.