Cape Coast, June 10, GNA – The Management of the defunct Ameen Sangari Company Limited in the Cape Coast Metropolis has expressed optimism about a $3.
8 million bank support to revamp the factory.
According to the company, negotiations for support were advanced with a leading financial institution in the country and the ‘One District, One Factory’ (1D1F) Secretariat to revive the factory.
Mr Perry Mensah, a Consultant to the Company, said reviving the company’s operations was critical, especially amid COVID-19 where every country was concentrating on their local industries to stimulate job creation to enhance economic growth.
He gave the assurance on Thursday, when Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister toured the facility to assess its state as part of moves to revamp it.
She was accompanied by a team from the Regional Coordinating Council led by Mr Kingsley Adjei Boahen, Regional Coordinating Director, officials of the 1D1F Secretariat, Chamber of Commerce, security and the media.
Mr Mensah said the Lebanese-owned Company, aside from soap and palm kernel oil production, also processed teak trees into electricity poles.
The company which had operated in the Metropolis for close to 10 decades had more than 600 workers, but had to downsize the workforce to 280 due to the high cost of power, pilfering and administrative challenges.
On her part, Mrs Assan expressed displeasure about the closure of the company, considering its huge multifaceted production capacity, investment, job creation and related value-chain benefits.
Nonetheless, she re-echoed the government’s commitment to revive the oldest factory in the area as a manifestation of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s commitment to industrialisation.
Mrs Assan said she would work with the management of the Company and other key stakeholders to promote sustainable development in the region.
That, she said, would materialize if the government’s pledge to shift the country from consumption to production through investments in sectors with comparative advantage to create jobs, reduce trade imbalances and boost the local economy materialised and called for support from all stakeholders.
“Government is going to work closely with the company to make it operational to create jobs for the youth. We need everyone’s support to make it a success,” Mrs Assan said.
She said Ghana’s industrial sector had emerged as a significant driver of growth in recent years as the country leveraged its abundant natural resources to diversify the economy and attract investment.