GHANA – The Parliament of Ghana has granted a US$28 million tax waiver to Kasapreko company to enable it restart production activities at the defunct Paramount Distilleries limited.
A report by Ghana Web indicated that Kasapreko, a local alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage company, was granted the tax waiver under the 1D1F (one district, one Factory) initiative.
The tax waiver which is the largest to ever be given to any firm under the 1D1F initiative will help Kasapreko in the procurement of machinery, equipment and raw material for the revival of the defunct Paramount Distilleries.
A subsidiary of the state beverage firm GIHOC Distilleries, Paramount Distilleries, located in Tanoso, in the Ashanti Region, if reactivated under the programme is expected to create 300 direct jobs.
Ghana’s Chairman of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, explained to the House that the decision was in line with the government’s policy to bring back to life Ghanaian firms, which needed the support of the state to return to production.
This, he said, would help realize the industrialization dream of the country from the economic quagmire of relying on imports from the East and West for production and consumption.
Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee, Anthony Effah, added that the revival of the company is expected to create an additional 1,800 indirect jobs.
With the rehabilitation of the project, Mr. Effah said “the local economy of Tanoso is going to be revived” to the benefit of the entire country.
Ras Mubarak one of the MPs in the Ghanaian parliament in his remarks urged Kasapreko to focus on environmental sustainability to ensure that packaging of products did not add to the environmental challenges the country was grappling with.
Kasapreko, started in 1989 has evolved into a total beverage company, producing alcoholic beverages, carbonated soft drinks and bottled water.
Early this year, Kasapreko secured a US$7.4m loan facility from Standard Chartered Bank Ghana to help purchase of the necessary inputs for the mass production of alcohol-based hand sanitisers for use in Ghana.
Kaspreko had then explained that the decision was in response to an appeal by the government to local industries to produce affordable hand sanitisers.
The beverage producer also commenced operation at its new factory in the Ashanti Regional town of Tanoso, developed under the government’s One district, One factory flagship (1D1F) programme.
The factory which sits on a 10,000 square metre property has a production capacity of about 85,000 bottles of various products per day
Being part of government’s flagship 1D1F initiative, the government assisted the beverage company to access US$20 million loan from Eximbank for the construction of the project.
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