Mahama inspects work on Kotokuraba Market
The government has secured a $24-million loan from the Exim Bank of India to support outgrowers to produce sugarcane to feed the Komenda Sugar Factory.
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The factory will have the capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of sugar annually when it becomes operational and that will halve the annual importation of sugar by the nation.
President Mahama made this known when he addressed the chiefs and people of Komenda as part of his ‘accounting to the people’ tour of the Central Region yesterday.
He encouraged the youth to take advantage of the project and invest in sugarcane cultivation.
The President also announced that the government would soon introduce a bill in Parliament to reduce the importation of sugar by half, since the sugar factory would have the capacity to produce the other half to save the country about $200 million in sugar importation annually.
In essence, the bill will ensure that only half of the country’s sugar needs is imported, while the other half is produced by the company when it becomes operational by the end of this month.
Electricity
President Mahama further announced that the Komenda Sugar Factory would generate three megawatts of electricity using ethanol from the sugarcane.
Two megawatts of the power would support the factory’s operations and the rest supplied to Komenda and its environs.
He said the revival of the sugar factory and the Diamond Cement Factory at Buipe in the Northern Region, which provides 2,000 direct and indirect jobs, formed part of the government's agenda of transforming the structure of the national economy.
The Chief of Komenda, Nana Kodwo Kroow II, lauded the President for initiating development projects in the area and expressed optimism that the Komenda Sugar Factory would transform the lives of majority of the people.
Kotokuraba
President Mahama also inspected work on the Kotokuraba Market in Cape Coast, where he announced that work on the new market would be completed in August this year.
Addressing the market women, he gave an assurance that when the project is completed, the original traders would be allocated stores before others would be considered.
Portions of the Kotokuraba market project.
The project was initiated by President J.E.A. Mills.
President Mahama recalled that following the demise of Prof. Mills, he (Mahama) promised to complete all the projects the late President had initiated before his unfortunate demise and start others.
President Mahama being briefed on progress of work on the project
"I will be in your midst again, God willing, in three months to inaugurate this important project and cut the sod for other projects,"he said.
President Mahama urged the market women to keep their surroundings clean to avoid the outbreak of diseases.
Illegal fishing
At the Ekon fishing community in Cape Coast, the President assured the fisher folk that the Ghana Navy would intensify patrols and arrest and prosecute those who used illegal methods to fish.
He said the government had procured 1,000 outboard motors to be sold to fishermen at subsidised prices and urged them to register with the landing beach committees to acquire the outboard motors.