Trade Minister assesses work at Dawa Industrial Park

The government is focusing on developing more industrial parks in each of the 10 regions to facilitate its industrialisation policy, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, has stated.

He said the initiative, which will thrive on public-private partnerships (PPPs), was to complement the One-district, One-factory policy by the government and also create more jobs in the country.

“One of the 10 pillars of the government’s drive to transform the industrial sector is to develop at least one industrial park in each region.

“While the One-district, One-factory policy will focus on creating industries at the district level, the industrial park initiative is designed to operate at the regional level on a PPP basis,” he said.

He said some industrial parks had already been developed, including the Tema Free Zone enclave and the Appolonia Business Park, both in the Greater Accra Region, and the West Park Industrial Zone at Shama in the Western Region, while plans were advanced to develop a 5,000-acre Greater Kumasi City Special Economic Zone in the coming months.

Mr Kyerematen said this when he undertook a working tour of the Dawa Industrial Park located in the Ningo Prampram District in the Greater Accra Region yesterday.

Tour

The tour was meant to assess the extent of work done by LMI Holdings, the private company in charge of the Dawa Industrial Park.

The park sits on a 2,000-acre land and work on it started in 2015 and has progressed steadily.

So far, 700 acres of the total land has been developed, with facilities for delivering services such as power supply, water, road infrastructure and Internet connectivity ongoing.

The Director of Power Business at LMI Holdings, Mr Ernest Owusu-Afari, flanked by other officials of the company, conducted the minister round the facilities at the industrial park.

The first port of call was the power station where the Enclave Power Company, in collaboration with the Ghana Grid Company (GridCo) Limited, is working on an $80-million project that will provide 396 megawatts of power for the industrial enclave.

Among the facilities within the industrial park is the Railway Slipper Plant, which was commissioned by the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, recently.

The plant, which is the largest of its kind in West Africa, produces railway slippers that were initially imported at a high cost.

The minister expressed satisfaction with the extent of work done by the company at the industrial park and said it was a positive sign that given the right environment, the private sector could be the game changer in the industrialisation process.

Assurance

Mr Owusu-Afari noted that the visit to the facility by the minister demonstrated that the government was ready to partner the private sector to transform the economy.

He disclosed that the first company had already moved to the enclave and was putting  the finishing touches to grounds work to start operating.

He also said the necessary funding was being solicited to complete work on the remaining 1,300 acres at the park.

He assured investors and the business community that the right infrastructure had been put in place at the industrial park to guarantee their safety and give them value for money.