GHANA – Ghana is moving ahead with its 1 District 1 Factory initiative that targets to have at least one factory in every district and has announced plans to launch a cassava processing factory in Keta District before the end of September.
While delivering the development, The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Keta, Mr Godwin Edudzi Yao Effah, said government was committed to undertake the project within the stipulated timelines.
He further revealed that Ghana was committed to partner with the investors, Hormeku Engineers and Planners (HoPE) Limited, to ensure the factory had the necessary capital required for completion and commissioning.
Mr Effah made this known after leading a delegation from the Assembly on a day’s tour of the project site of HoPE Ltd, in Ashaiman, in the Greater Accra Region, to inspect equipment for the Keta factory.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Keta later visited Tsiame-Dorveme in the Keta Municipality to inspect the project site and out grower cassava farms, which would feed the factory on completion.
The equipment inspected include mechanical cassava peeler, stainless steel cassava grater, cassava disintegrator, stainless steel hammer mill, flash dryer, hydraulic press, automatic gari roaster, stainless steel slicer, and sifter.
Mr Effah expressed his satisfaction about the commitment of the investors, who had locally manufactured the machinery, saying with the equipment and availability of water and electricity at the site, the factory was almost ready.
Effah further revealed that the Assembly would facilitate work on the physical structure, including the fence wall and overhead shed on its five-acre land for operation to start in October.
Mr Abubakar Sheini, an engineer with HoPE Ltd, said the factory, when completed would process cassava produced in the Keta Municipality into cassava derivatives.
He said the factory would transform cassava production from subsistence farming into a commercially viable agribusiness.
This according to the Hope engineer will address rural poverty by bringing the community into mainstream economic activity.
He said the plant would have the capacity to process 35 tonnes of fresh cassava per day and noted that the current 65-acre cassava farm under the project would not be enough to supply raw cassava to the factory.
Mr Kofivi Hormeku, the Director of HoPE, declared his resolve to partner government to operationalise the Keta factory would provide about 120 direct jobs and some 1,500 indirect jobs.
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