Construction of two factories in Ghana under the government’s “One District, One Factory” (1D1F) initiative nears completion. Officials of Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) Ghana, major financiers of the 1D1F projects made the announcement and said that the projects are about 90% complete with full scale commercial production expected to start in December this year.
According to the bank, construction of warehouses have been completed with work on necessary machinery for processing of products ongoing. Construction of two dams on the farm for irrigation purposes had also been completed.
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One district one factory initiative
The one district one factory initiative, which is also part of the “Creating and Capturing Value” (Capval) project was launched in 2015 by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Jekora Ventures Limited with support from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
The ‘One-District-One-Factory’ programme is aimed at establishing, at least, one factory or enterprise in each of the 216 districts of Ghana as a means of creating economic growth poles that would accelerate the development of those areas and create jobs for the teeming youth.
The policy aims to transform the structure of the economy from one dependent on production and export of raw materials to a value-added industrialized economy, driven primarily by the private sector.
The Capval project seeks to demonstrate that sanitation and waste management could support a circular economy. The factories will be used to process both faecal and bio-degradable waste.
The CEO of EximBank, Lawrence Agyensam, said close to 90% of approved funds for 84 approved projects under the 1D1F policy had been disbursed by the bank. Dr Josiane Nikiema, the Representative from IWMI said that the smaller facility would be positioned to produce 200 metric tonnes of compost annually by transforming 5,000 cubic metres of faecal sludge and 300 metric tonnes of solid waste.
Casa De Ropa Company Limited and Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Limited both sited in the Gomoa West and Ekumfi districts respectively of the Central Region, currently have between 200 to 500 acres of its raw materials cultivated to commence production.
