Komenda Sugar Factory to be ready ahead of schedule

The Komenda Sugar Factory in the Central Region is scheduled for completion by the end of this month, ahead of its September timeline.

This came to light when the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, paid a surprise visit to the site during his accounting to the people tour of the Central Region on May 4.

A similar sugar factory was established in the 1960s in the country produced brown sugar, considered one of the best forms of sugars.

With the capacity to process 1,250 tonnes of cane per day (TCD), the Komenda Sugar Factory will also generate one megawatt surplus power to feed into the national electricity grid.

For a crushing season of 180 days, sugarcane requirement would be 225,000 tonnes. This translates into jobs for about 2,000 farmers, around 1,250 harvesting labourers, as well as 250 transporters.

“With 10 per cent sugar recovery in 180 days, the plant will produce 22,500 tonnes of Sulphur less white sugar. 

It is expected that the plant will generate direct employment for 151 staff and an additional 250 workmen.

When in full operation, the Komenda Sugar Factory is expected to produce half of the country's annual sugar imports, thereby reducing by half, the US$300 million sugar import bill of the country. 

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President Mahama said revitalising the factory was part of the industrialisation drive of his government to transform the structure of economy and create jobs for the youth.

The Komenda Sugar Factory, the Kumasi Shoe Factory and the Diamond Cement Factory in Buipe in the Northern Region, which together provide direct and indirect jobs for about 10,000 people, were cited as examples of the industrialisation drive.

He said the government had secured $24 million to be used to support sugarcane outgrowers to feed the factory with sugar cane that would be processed into sugar.

President Mahama, therefore, entreated the youth to take advantage of the guaranteed buyer and venture into sugar cane cultivation.

He reminded managers of the factory of the need to employ people from the area when they are recruiting workers.

The Plant Site Engineer, Mr Shreeniwas Rao, who conducted President Mahama round the factory, said when the factory began operating, it would generate three megawatts of power and, therefore, not depend on the Electricity Company of Ghana for its power supply

The plant was scheduled to be ready by October 2016. Its completion before schedule will, therefore, facilitate its inauguration by the end of May, this year.