The Komenda Sugar Factory, according to President Akufo-Addo, would begin operations in the first quarter of 2021.
Today, Monday, October 18, 2021, while on a visit of the Central Region, the President revealed this while answering questions about it in an interview.
According to him, the government terminated a deal with a partner after they failed to meet the contract’s pre-conditions.
He claimed that the previous administration overwhelmed the project, but that steps have been made to ensure that the factory is restarted.
He noted that the Ministry is presently seeking technical partners, and that the factory will begin operations in the first quarter of 2022.
The factory, according to the President, is a huge albatross around the government’s neck that cannot be allowed to fall. We have plans to bring it back,’ said the team. Added he.
Meanwhile, the President’s statement contrasts sharply with what the Minister told Parliament a few months ago.
He informed Parliament that the transaction advisor had been tasked with finalizing the factory’s opening timeline by the end of August 2021.
“I’ve asked the transaction adviser to make sure that the condition precedent to the concession agreement, as well as the roadmap for the factory’s opening, be finished by the end of August 2021, so that operational activities can begin before the end of the year,” Alan Kyerematen stated.
Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, a Ghanaian-Indian firm, was identified by the Minister as the new investor who will take over the factory’s operations.
The corporation is anticipated to invest $28 million in the factory between 2020 and 2023, according to the government.
$11 million was set aside for sugarcane farming, $6 million for plant and machinery upgrades, and $11 million for working capital to help the struggling factory get back on its feet.
The Ghana-based company mentioned by the Minister a few months ago is a subsidiary of India’s Skylark Group of Companies, one of the country’s largest integrated farming businesses.
The Komenda Sugar Factory was constructed using a $35 million loan from the Indian EXIM Bank.