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Business News of Thursday, 5 May 2016

Source: gbcghana.com

President Mahama inspects ongoing works on Komenda sugar factory

President calls on Komenda Traditional Council and inspect on going works on sugar factory President calls on Komenda Traditional Council and inspect on going works on sugar factory

President John Dramani Mahama says through pragmatic policies and programs, the government is changing lives of Ghanaians and transforming the country.

He said this the government is doing through the revival of some of the factories built by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah but have collapsed.

Addressing the Ghanaian workers and residents of Komenda at the Komenda Sugar Factory site in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem district of the Central Region on his "Accounting To The People Tour", President Mahama said this forms part of the government's vision of industrialising the country by transforming the structure of Ghana's economy and create jobs for the youth.

He mentioned, in particular, the Komenda Sugar Factory, the Kumasi Factory and the Diamond Cement Factory in Buipe in the Northern Region, which all together provide direct and indirect jobs for about 10 thousand people.

He said the government has secured 24 million dollars to be used to support sugarcane out growers to feed the factory with sugar cane to be processed into sugar.

The President, therefore, encouraged the youth to take advantage of the opportunity and go into sugar cane cultivation.

President Mahama said the Komenda Sugar Factory when in full operation will produce annually half of the country's sugar import thereby cutting down to half, the 300 million dollars used every year to import sugar into the country. He reminded managers of the factory of the need to employ people from the area in their recruitment of workers.

President Mahama. The Plant Site Engineer, Shreeniwas Rao, who conducted President Mahama round the factory, said when the factory begins operation, it will generate three megawatts of electricity on its own. It will therefore not depend on the Electricity Company of Ghana.

He said the factory will require two megawatts of the electricity the factory will generate and the remaining one megawatts will be supplied to Komenda and its surrounding communities.

President Mahama also paid a courtesy call on the Omanhene of the Edina Traditional Area, Nana Kodwo Conduah and inspected the construction of a concrete bridge to replace the barley bridge over the Benya lagoon.

The project is 90 percent complete.

The President inspected the overlaying of asphalt on the OLA Estate stretch of road in the Cape Coast municipality to round off the first day of his accounting to the people tour of the Central Region.