The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given the assurance to traditional leaders of Komenda that the Komenda Sugar Factory will begin production by April this year based on report received from the technical team on site.
“The Indian contractors and the technical people in charge, will complete the remaining civil works by the end of March. Consequently, all outstanding works will be completed by April for proper production to begin,” President Akufo-Addo told a delegation from the Komenda Traditional Council during a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House in Accra on Wednesday, 23 February 2022.
The delegation, which was led by the acting president of the council Nana Twafohene was to brief the president on preparations being made towards the performance of the final funeral rites of Nana Kru, Omanhene and former President of the Council.
“This sugar factory has become a very prominent issue. We all heard some people say they have completed it, yet there was no sugar to show for it. It’s been a back-and-forth issue. Now, we all can attest to the fact that it has now been set on a progressive path, therefore we can all hope that by April, the technical operators will tick all the boxes for production to begin,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
President Akufo-Addo said measures have been put in place to ensure that the factory will always have raw materials to function.
“I am reliably informed that negotiations are underway for a 20,000 acre sugarcane plantation at Wassa -Fiase to feed the factory, as the initial 5000 acres have been massively encroached upon with portions of same allocated for the construction of a university, and the individual farmer production from the out-growers,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
For his part, the Twafohene of the Komenda Traditional Council, was full of gratitude to the President for responding rapidly to the requests they put before him when he visited the area in 2019.
He indicated that following the requests by the late chief, the government has after completion of the new Sea Defense project also constructed a 200-capacity Landing Beach and a concrete bridge linking British Komenda and Dutch Komenda.
It will be recalled that, the President revealed that a strategic investor, Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, had been selected as the preferred strategic investor for the Komenda Sugar Factory, and their recommendation was approved by cabinet.
However, negotiations between the Transaction Advisor (Price Water House) and the Strategic Investor have been unduly prolonged due to a number of demands made by the Strategic Investor, as well as the effects of the emergence of COVID-19 Pandemic, which restricted consultations between the investor and the Transaction Advisor.
The President indicated that the services of the Technical Partner with expertise in the sugar industry has been engaged to manage the technical operations of the factory. In addition, traditional authorities in Komenda and the adjoining districts have been engaged to acquire large tracts of land for sugarcane plantation.
