Trade Minister Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah says the Komenda Sugar factory will reopen for operations next week after it closed down in July.
The Minister said the factory, a signature economic achievement for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, closed down after the sugar cane season petered off.
The factory was built in the 1960s under the first post-independence government of the Convention Peoples Party but depressing economic fortunes forced the closure of the sugar-producing plant in the 1980s.
Government, with the help of a $35-million Indian Exim Bank facility, revived the factory on May 30, 2016.
The plant with an annual production capacity of at least 225,000 metric tons of sugar cane however shut down a few weeks after it was commissioned.
The shut down fuelled criticism from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the commissioning of the project was for propaganda value rather than sound economic judgement.
The PRO of Trade Ministry Akrasi Sarpong, however, explained that the raw material – sugarcane- has entered its lean season hence the need to close down the revamped factory for maintenance.
The Ministry said the company has resumed operations by November.
Discussing the Komenda Sugar factory on Joy News TV channel, the AM Show Thursday, the Minister indicated that the re-start of operations of the plant confirms government’s disputed explanation that the shutdown was routine.
“People forget that many of the agro-industries are seasonal. There are times of the year you can’t get pawpaw… there are times of the year you get sugarcane” the Dr Spio-Garbrah told hosts Mamavi Owusu-Aboagye and Kojo Yankson.
Ekow Spio- Garbrah
He said sugarcane harvesting starts around May/June and in October explaining that, “the factory is a six-month cycle factory and all sugar cane factories around the world do not produce 12 months in a year”.
The Minister revealed government has plans to sell off 70% of government shares in the company to a private investor to enable it to recoup its investment.
The re-vamped factory which used to be a post-independence relic has added to the public debt stock and government is keen to ease the burden by inviting private sector participation believed to be better managers.
“Government does not intend to be 100% manager of enterprises…unless it has been proven that we have enough experience in the area”, he said.
Already, there are five companies that have made a proposal to partner government and one of them will be selected next week, the one-time NDC presidential aspirant indicated.
Touting the economic potential of the factory, Spio-Garbrah said breweries are clamouring for Komenda sugar.
“Beverage industries, they will be happy to buy all the sugar from you, CPP-like” he said.
Ghana’s annual sugar requirement is currently estimated at 375,000 tonnes and the Komenda Sugar factory even at full potential would not meet more than 10 percent of national demand, the minister said.
He lamented at criticism from the NPP about the project but said it was not surprising because the party’s forebears, the United Party also opposed the industrialisation plan of the CPP government led by Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
“The 300 industries he established were destroyed and it is President Mahama whose father, a CPP supporter like my father, who is today trying hard to revive these factories. So don’t let anybody from NPP to come and tell us about industry,” Dr Garbrah noted.
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