'One District One Factory' will succeed - AGI

Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has said the Association would help ensure the success of the "One District, One Factory" (1D1F) policy.

He said the Association and the Government had secured a two billion dollar credit facility from the China National Building Materials Group Corporation (CNBM) towards the initiative and urged members to pool resources together to access the facility.

Mr Twum-Akoaboah was addressing members at the sixth Volta/Eastern regional annual general meeting in Ho held under the theme: “District Industrialisation Initiative, a Tool for Economic Development and Job Creation”.

He said the facility would help provide long term loans and technical support towards success of the initiative.

He said a constant supply of raw materials was crucial to the operation of factories and revealed that the Association was partnering with the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research to develop quality products.

Mr Ernest Agyapong, Team Leader, 1D1F, said a stimulus package had been prepared to help identify ten strategic anchor industries such as the chemical, iron/steel, and garment, to make them operational and competitive.

He said a policy to support Small to Medium Scale Enterprises, which constituted about 75 per cent of Ghana’s industries, was also being developed.

Mr Agyapong said the Ghana Export Promotion Authority would be engaged to build the capacities of industrialists towards export diversification, adding that government would construct industrial parks and economic zones in all ten regions.

He said Ghana had dropped from 62 to 108 on the global investment destination index and that four major indicators including cross-border trade, access to power and construction permits, have been identified to help reposition the country.

Mrs Gifty Ohene-Konadu, National Coordinator, 1D1F, said land acquisition remained an issue and appealed to chiefs and individuals to avail land for the projects.