1D1F: 40 Business Approved In Western Region
The government’s flagship programme, One-District, One-Factory (1D1F), in the Western Region is progressing steadily as some factories engaged in rubber processing and ceramics have fully taken off.
Other factories under the programme are at various stages of completion or are sourcing funding to speed up the process in their quest to add value to the enormous raw materials the region is endowed with.
The 1D1F, which is the key component of the government’s industrialisation agenda across the country, is expected to create jobs, change the local economy, transform lives and propel growth.
The factories
In the Western Region, out of hundreds of business proposals submitted, about 40 have been approved. The approved companies are expected to go into various forms of manufacturing.
The areas covered include cement grinding for construction, processing natural rubber to rubber products, tiles production, production of coconut oil, paint and glue, production of activated carbons, fish processing, natural rubber processing, production of roofing sheets and nails.
The others are the manufacture of ceramics and tiles, salt, caustic soda production, palm kernel oil/cake oil palm processing and aquaculture production, production of oil palm and bar charcoal, production of jute sacks, livestock production and processing cocoa into liquor powder.
The companies are also looking at natural fruit drinks production, vehicle tyre factory, aquaculture and bamboo charcoal, production of gas cylinders, cassava processing, production of quarry chips from boulders, processing of cocoa husks to potassium salt, among others.
An interaction with some of the officials of companies who are putting up their structures and installing machinery indicated that within the shortest possible time, more factories would start the production of industrial starch, oil palm, cocoa processing, cocoa liquor and palm kernel among others.
The factories indicated that the main target markets for the palm kernel, cocoa liquor and starch from cassava among others were outside the country. However, local manufacturing companies who hitherto sourced those materials from outside the country had visited the factories and were eager to be part of the off-takers.
Challenges, interventions
One of the challenges faced by the companies that is slowing the progress of work is funding, which is not forthcoming from the financial institutions assigned to them under the project.
Many of the promoters have had to resort to sourcing funding from private, family, personal and other sources to enable them to actualise the initiative.
The Western Region, which is home to a considerable number of natural resources, has these factories carefully selected and sited near raw materials to serve as feedstock for sustainable production.
It makes it feasible for industries that use rubber products such as tyre manufacture, rubber estate, as well as cocoa processing, ceramics, palm and cassava to source their raw materials from farms in the region.
When contacted, the Western Regional Director of Trade, Mr Isaac Yankson, described the 1D1F as a good intervention even though it was moving at a slow pace due to financial challenges.
Majority of the financial institutions assigned to those prospective companies, he said, were yet to extend their support, making the initiative in the region slower than expected.
He said although things were currently not working as planned, a lot would happen soon with the abundance of raw materials in the region which would make the factories sustainable.
Meanwhile, other companies such as Twyford in the Shama District and Ghana Rubber Estate (GREL) in the Ahanta West Municipality are operating and have impacted the lives of some of the youth through employment at their companies.
Progress
At one of the factories known as the Amenfi Farms at Wasa-Akropong in the Amenfi East Municipality, work is progressing even though they are yet to receive funding. A document made available to the Daily Graphic indicates that the cost of the proposed Amenfi Farms project, which is yet to take off, is estimated at GH¢13.1 million.
From the document, the GH¢13.1 million has been approved but is yet to be made available to the company. However, due to the high demand from the off-takers, the promoter of the business, Mr Andy Gyan, said they had to source funding from elsewhere, which was an uphill task.
The project, he said, was currently about 96 per cent complete, adding that from this month, the engineers would be doing the inauguration of the equipment, which included the motor and water tests, then finally introduce cassava to produce the first starch – then commercial production would begin.
He said for the proposed amount for the factory under 1D1F, “we went through the process ourselves, but I must say that we got some incentives under the 1D1F which made it easier for us to clear the machinery at the port duty-free”.
Mr Gyan said aside from the incentive for the clearing, they had not received any other form of funding and did not know which company they were assigned to for assistance.
“After the inception, we were working closely with a financial institution which was not able to meet their demand,” he explained.
Raw material, off-takers
On the availability of raw material for production, Mr Gyan said the region had arable land for the production of enough cassava for the factory to meet the demand coming in.
He said, however, that one of the serious challenges they were likely to face was the threat of the activities of illegal miners (galamsey). “We have some space for growing, but due to the degradation by the illegal mining activities, getting enough land for our out-growers will be a challenge,” he said.
He said from the demand, the factory, within the shortest possible time, would have to be expanded and “we have plans for that, but the challenge for the expansion and increasing our growers is a problem now”.
Mr Gyan said areas for expansion and growing of cassava were within the degraded areas and that would mean that “we have to spend a lot of money for reclamation. “This means that if we get a 1,000-acre cassava farm, the cost will triple because the land has to be reclaimed first, allowed to fallow for some time before the farmers can plant,” Mr Gyan said.
The 1D1F, he said, was a serious panacea to address the slow growth of the industrial sector in the country; however, there was the need to ensure that the perfect ambiance was created for the take-off.
Asked who the off-takers were and if there were demands locally and internationally, Mr Gyan said before the interaction with the Daily Graphic, they had received calls from people wanting to know when production would commence.
“Just before you arrived, we had received calls from Promasidor Ghana, which is the leading provider of high-quality food products across the country, Unilever Ghana, Nestle Ghana — all Ghanaian industries — who are already expressing interest, in addition to our Chinese off-takers,” he said.
Cocoa processing
In the area of cocoa processing, some companies are into value addition that will process cocoa from the raw beans into finished products ready for consumption.
That is expected to significantly cut the importation of finished beverages into the country, thereby creating jobs and saving the country from imports.
At the Plot Communities at Eshiem in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis, construction work was progressing steadily for a factory that will process raw cocoa into finished products.
The Head of Procurement at Plot Communities, Mr Emmanuel Dzisah, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said more than 60 per cent of steel and other civil works had been done and the rest were progressing. “What is outstanding is the roof over the utility building,” he added.
He said the next phase was the installation of the equipment, adding that all internal partitioning had been done, as well as first phases of plumbing and electrical works, with few fixtures and fittings remaining.
He said the machines were already in the country and would be accessing government support under the 1D1F to clear them from the port.
The project is estimated at $6.8 million, he said, adding that the company had received part of the amount for the project and would also clear the plants currently at the port under the 1D1F duty-free.