Komenda sugar factory to be inaugurated today
President John Dramani Mahama is set to commission the new Komenda Sugar Factory today, to produce high-quality sugar for both domestic consumption and export.
The new Komenda Sugar Factory is a fulfilment of a campaign promise President Mahama made during the 2012 campaign.
The Government of Ghana established a factory at Komenda in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District of the Central Region in the 1960s to produce sugar and its related products for both local and international markets.
The defunct Komenda Sugar Factory was closed down due to some technical and operational challenges.
In 2014, government partnered the private sector to revive the company.
The Export and Import (EXIM) Bank of India provided $35 million while the Government of Ghana also provided the counterpart funding of $1.5 million towards the establishment of the $36.5 million Komenda Sugar Factory.
The sugar factory, on completion, would provide 1,300 direct jobs to Ghanaians and over 5,000 auxiliary jobs would also be provided under the project.
Ghana government and the M/S Seftech India Private Limited would construct 1,250 tonnes of cane per day of the white sugar plant to produce ethanol and 1.0 megawatts surplus power.
To ensure sustainable raw material production base for the project, an additional credit of $24.5 million was injected into the development of a sugarcane plantation with an irrigation facility.
The funds targeted 3,000 hectares of irrigable land while the Government of Ghana provided five per cent of the amount to facilitate the irrigation of the plantation.
India has experience in sugar production, considering the fact that it has over 500 sugar factories, and would share that experience with her Ghanaian counterparts.
