Mauritius funds industrial park in Ghana
The government of Mauritius is funding an industrial park in Ghana to take care of unemployed graduates.
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The project, which is expected to cost about $110 million for the first phase, is projected to provide direct jobs for about 1,500 young people.
While Mauritius provides funding, the government of Ghana, for its part, has made provision for more than 100 acres at Dawa along the Tema-Aflao Highway for the project.
This was made known by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius, Mr Xavier Luc Duval, in a media interaction when he made a stopover in Accra from an official visit to Côte d'Ivoire.
The Honorary Consulate of Mauritius to Ghana, Mrs Elizabeth Knaup, said the enclave would focus on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), textiles and the hospitality industry.
According to her, the funding was being made available through the African Mauritius Fund (AMF), which was set up to encourage local enterprises to deploy their investment on the African continent.
Bilateral relations
She said Mauritius, in its quest to strengthen its bilateral relationship with Ghana, had to invest in the country’s industrial sector.
“We have passed the negotiation side, we are now finalising on the paper work, the land agreement and the double taxation agreement, as well as the investment promotion agreement to protect the investors in the sector,“ she explained.
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She observed that as a continent, Africans had to help themselves by promoting intra African trade.
“We do not have to look outside our continent. We need to help one another. Once we can get funds to trade between one another it will make it easier,” Mrs Knaup added.
On the recent visa waiver agreement signed between the two countries, she said about 150 Ghanaians visited Mauritius every month.
“The figure is for Emirates airline alone, I have no data on other airlines. This is mainly for economic purposes. We are looking forward to more Ghanaians visiting for tourism and exploring other sectors,” she stated.
Land available
Later in an interview, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osah Mills, confirmed that the land for the industrial park was ready.
“We hope the project will take off soon. We believe that it will be a source of massive job creation,” he said.