President opens tomatoe factory at Afienya
Nsemgh.com
The President His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, opened the Ghana Bright International Free zone and commissioned Leefound Food Stuff Ghana Limited, a $23 million dollar tomato processing factory at Afienya in the Shai Osu-Doku Constituency of the Greater Accra Region as part of government’s One District, One Factory (1D1F) policy.
The facility, covers an area of about 60,000 square meters, including comprehensive production workshop, finished products warehouse, raw materials warehouse, packaging materials warehouse, office buildings, among others.
The President in his speech, said “Shai Osu-Doku like the rest of Ghana is going to see serious transformation in the period of the Akufo Addo Presidency. I want you to give our Chinese friends and promoters your maximum support and cooperation so that they can make a success of this investment”.
The sector Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon Alan Kyeremanten, in his speech indicated that Ghana has one of the highest per capital consumption of tomatoes, and that, according to available statistics, Ghana imported in 2018 alone, almost $100 million dollars worth of fresh tomatoes, mostly from Burkina Faso.
“The importation of processed tomatoes is even a multiple of what we import compared to fresh tomatoes. So you can understand that there is a major opportunity for import substitution in Ghana for tomatoes and tomato products and that is why we must commend and celebrate what we are witnessing today as a major step in the import substitution programme for tomatoes and tomato products” the President indicated.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Shi Ting Wang, in his remarks noted that Ghana and China enjoy profound traditional friendship and Chinese companies are willing to invest and develop in Ghana.
He further indicated that the entire free zone area when completed will create several jobs for the people of the Shai Osu-Doku Constituency.
President Akufo-Addo, emphasised :“This free zone is an act in support of One District One Factory policy initiated by Ghana Government and plans to introduce one hundred factories and one thousand stores in the area which can create jobs, introduced technology, provide training and so on. The benefits are far beyond expectation”.
