CR Investors forum: Stakeholders call for stronger collaborations, infrastructure
Stakeholders at an investment forum in Cape Coast, the Central Regional capital, have called for stronger government-investor-traditional authorities partnerships to explore the Central Region's immense potential for growth.
Among others, they called for a seaport, an airport, roads and stronger industry-academia linkages to maximise the benefits of the region’s great potential.
They indicated that a stronger infrastructure base was critical to attracting the needed investors to harness the huge resource base of the region.
Low investment
Data from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) indicate that the Central Region attracted less than one per cent of the $52 billion foreign direct investment that the country attracted between 1994 and 2025.
The region managed to attract a meagre $491 million between 1994 and 2025.
Huge potential
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Abdul Razak Baba, speaking at an investment road show in Cape Coast yesterday, said there was a need to change the narrative considering the region's immense potential.
He explained that the Central Region’s position strategically between two port regions and bordering the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western regions, places it at an advantage and could attract more investment.
Also, he noted that the region’s arable lands were suitable for farming and, with favourable rainfall patterns, about 30 per cent of the country's coastline.
He further stated that deposits of lithium, clay and salt also held great potential for prospective investors and urged investors to consider investing in the region.
At the national level, the GIPC Deputy CEO said Ghana had a corporate income tax system of 25 per cent, one of the lowest in the sub-region, while the free zone's 10-year tax holidays and other incentives in farming and agricultural-related investments were investor-friendly.
Ports
The President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu VIII, said the region deserved both an airport and a seaport.
He indicated that the promise of an airport for the region due to its potential, should not be discarded, saying such an airport could also serve as a service space for aircraft repairs and a spare part warehouse.
He called for the involvement of chiefs as partners to promote the growth of the region.
Partnerships
In an address read on his behalf, the Central Regional Minister, Ekow Eduamoah Panyin Okyere, said the Regional Coordinating Council was prepared to work with investors to promote growth.
The Safohen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Charlotte Osei, for her part, emphasised partnerships and collaborations over competition to push investment in the region.
She said the completion of the Kasoa-Cape Coast dualisation project would make Cape Coast a hot spot for investors.
Mrs Osei, also a former Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, urged all, especially indigenes of the region, to take advantage of government policies on tax rebates, the Big Push and the 24-hour Economy to explore investment opportunities, saying the Central region was being unlocked.
She urged the government, traditional authorities and investors to collaborate to make the region a beacon of investment, a hub of innovation and a land of opportunity for all its people.
Strategic investment
The Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Kwame Asare Obeng, said the region had immense potential to contribute to regional and national growth if consciously harnessed through strategic investment.
He indicated that the Gomoa Central Economic Zone project, targeted to be the biggest industrial zone in Africa, was to promote industrial growth and create jobs for the region's people and called on investors to consider investing in the area.
He said it was time to explore the feasibility of a seaport in the region to boost its economic relevance, considering its strategic location, stressing that the region once served as a major seaport area, exporting goods to various parts of the world.
