Chinese investors show interest in SADA zone

Chinese investors are enthusiastic about investing in the northern savanna ecological zone (NSEZ) of the country and they expressed their zeal to invest after they had been taken through the investment opportunities in the area by a government delegation led by the Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Madam Mavis Hawa-Koomson, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Mr Charles Abugre.

The delegation is on an investment scouting mission to the Asian country, where it hopes to court investor attention for game-changer projects in the zone.

The projects under consideration include those in the cotton and textiles, livestock, the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the Upper East Region and the industrial parks and special economic zones in Wa, Bolgatanga, Tamale and Buipe.

Catalytic projects

The delegation is in China ahead of the five-day visit of Vice President Dr Mahumudu Bawumia, starting from today.

It is a follow up to various areas of cooperation aimed at attracting Chinese investments into the catalytic projects identified in the SADA Zone Master Development Plan, which the authority has been developing over the past two years.

The SADA CEO told the paper from China that the delegation would be working to attract investments into various projects, including the north-south highway that aimed at making the movement of goods and people faster, cheaper and safer.

It is also marketing an aquaculture centre in Dembai, the construction of the Buipe Inland port and waterfront city and the modernisation of Tamale, among others, to the Chinese investor community.

Those projects, he said, had been designed as commercially viable and would aid the development of the SADA zone and the economy as a whole.

On the response of the Chinese business community, Mr Abugre said: “It has been positive and the enthusiasm from them has been good.”

He expressed the hope that further discussions would result in some investors coming down to implement the plans.

SADA Cooperation Framework

In 2015, SADA developed a framework document to foster its cooperation with China for the development of the Savannah zone of the country.

The document, the ‘China-Ghana for SADA Cooperation Framework,’ draws from the 10-point plan of the China-Africa Cooperation framework announced at the China-Africa Summit in November 2015.

The 10-point plan, covering agriculture, industrial development, infrastructure, education and health and cultural cooperation, follows the Chinese government’s ‘Belt and Silk Road’ strategy for international cooperation.

Based on that framework document, SADA now seeks to leverage its relationship with the International Cooperation Centre (ICC) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to help improve the lot of the zone and its people.

The NDRC is known as the Super-Ministry of China. It is the gateway for all Chinese government-related financing, whether it is through banks such as the China Development Bank (CDB) or Exim Bank or through Chinese companies (most of whom are government related) as investment capital.

Without the blessings of the NDRC, such financing is always not possible.

The NDRC is also the home for the implementation of the One Belt, One Road strategy pioneered by President Xi Jinping.

The ICC of the NDRC has responsibility for all international cooperation in relation to the Belt and Road strategy.

The SADA CEO said the delegation also planned to meet with a number of Chinese companies, including construction company, CITIC, which built the Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium; SinoSure, the national insurance agency; Goke, the company that has 60 per cent of the market share of the livestock industry in China; and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

He added that the delegation would also be following up on the planned textiles project with the China National Textiles and Apparel Council (CNTAC) and the Agricultural Design Academy of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The meetings were expected to pave the way for a successful mission of the vice president.