Free Zones Board encouraged by increase of local investors

The Ghana Free Zones Board, says it is encouraged by the increasing number of local investors seeking to take advantage of opportunities within the free zone enclaves.

Mr Kwadwo Twum Boafo, the Board’s Executive Director, told journalists at the 82nd Izmir International Fair in Turkey, that the growing number of local investors in the zone speaks volumes of government efforts to attract both domestic and foreign direct investment.

Some of the companies, he said, are investing in green technology, environment management and plastic and solid waste management.

He said efforts are underway to establish industrial parks across the country to spread the establishment of companies.

This, Mr Boafo says will promote and attract businesses to such hubs to create employment.

In this direction, he said, the Free Zones Board is in discussion with Melcom Group, the largest retail company in Ghana, to establish a free zones enclave in Tamale to tap into the agricultural opportunities in the Northern Region.

Already the company, he said, has received a developer’s license to begin the process of establishing the zone.

He said although the Melcom operation is purely private, it would in the long term strengthen government plans to create equal opportunities in all regions to encourage prospective investors to move investment into any part of the country.

The Ghana Free Zone Programme takes its mandate from the Free Zones Act aim to promote enterprise development and job creation and thereby contribute to economic growth and development.

The programme exists to promote the processing and manufacturing of goods through the establishment of Export Processing Zones and encourages the development of commercial and service activities at seaport and airport areas.

Companies within the Ghana Free Zones are to export at least 70 per cent of their products to foreign markets while the remaining 30 per cent could be sold in the domestic market.

Source: GNA