$35m Komenda Sugar Factory still abandoned three years after inauguration

The Komenda Sugar factory built to provide jobs for thousands of Ghanaians has been abandoned by authorities, three years after its inauguration.

A viral video intercepted by ghananewsonline.com.gh, showed the deplorable state of the facility which remains inoperable. The metals continually rot while the entire facility gets engulfed in weeds.

In the video, a concerned native of the Ekumfi township revealed that, a lot of unemployed residents of the area were looking forward to working in the sugar factory but have been unceasingly disappointed by authorities.

The Komenda Sugar Factory, built at a cost of $35million from an Indian Exim Bank facility, was inaugurated by then President John Mahama in May 2016.

The factory has the capacity to crush 1,250 tonnes of sugarcane per day. Ghana spends about $200 million to import sugar annually and the new factory was expected to change the situation. Ghana’s annual sugar requirement, as of 2016, was estimated at 375,000 tonnes.

The government initiated processes to revive the facility in 2017. The Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, said a $24.5 million credit facility was being secured from the Indian Exim Bank for this purpose.

The factory despite the earlier promises by Akufo-Addo led government to revive it is still not opened to serve its purpose of sugar production and mass employment.

Source: Jonas Danquah || ghananewsonline.com.gh