Sunyani West Assembly to retool, expand existing factories under 1D1F
The Sunyani West District Assembly is to retool and expand three existing processing factories as part of the government’s flagship One-District One-Factory (1D1F) Programme, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Martin Obeng, has disclosed.
The factories are the St Baasa Ghana Company Limited, the Adantia Bricks and Tiles Factory and the Kojo Yeboah Roofing Sheet Company.
Apart from the St Baasa Ghana Company Limited which is an existing company and into production, the rest are yet to commence production in partnership with the government.
Mr Obeng was speaking on the sidelines of a town hall meeting organised by the Information Service Department (ISD) and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) at Odumase to brief the people about polices of both the government and the assembly.
The St Baasa Ghana Company Limited, an agro-food processing company, is into the production of “Big Mama” foods such as banku-mix, gari, fufu flour, palm nut cream, corn and cassava flour, hausa koko flour, palm nut oil among others.
The Bricks and Tiles factory at Adantia when retooled and expanded, would be producing more burnt bricks and tiles, while the Kojo Yeboah Roofing Sheet Company at Dumasua would also be manufacturing roofing sheets.
Mr Obeng explained that the District Implementation Committee (DIC) inaugurated by the assembly to see to the retooling process of the three factories had completed its assessment of the facilities of the factories.
Partnership
“In fact, the assembly, together with the committee, toured the various facilities and I can assure you that the companies will soon start production”, he stated.
When asked exactly when these factories will officially start production, Mr Obeng said partners such as banks were still going through the process to release funds for the completion of the retooling and expansion process.
He explained that through the partnership, the factories would be supported with ultra-modern machines to start production.
Arrest
Mr Obeng said the assembly has arrested two environmental officers of the assembly for allegedly embezzling revenues collected form the public.
The DCE, who only gave their names as Elizabeth and Edmund, said he had handed them over to the police for prosecution, lamenting that the issue of revenue was a major challenge to the assembly which had seriously hampered its ability to provide the required services to meet expectations of the people.
He cautioned staff of the assembly, including revenue collectors to desist from charging unapproved rates and ensure that all revenue collected were sent to the assembly.
Mr Obeng threatened to prosecute any staff who stole money from the assembly, adding that the assembly had put in place series of interventions, policies and programmes to improve its Internally-Generate Fund (IGF) to finance projects.
Agriculture
On agriculture, he said the assembly had distributed nearly 2,000 coffee seedless to some farmers in the district and challenged the youth to partner the government to develop the country.