Government ready to partner for jobs in Ghana under 1D1F – President
President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo says Ghana is ready to partner any well-meaning entity towards industrialisation for more jobs and economic empowerment under the One District, One Factory initiative.
“Our country doesn’t believe in discrimination… be it a Ghanaian or foreign business, we are prepared to support, under our 1D1F, to grow our local economies,” the President explained, when he commissoned the third phase of KEDA Ghana Ceramics Company.
He also cut the sod for the fourth phase for the operational expansion of the project.
The third and fourth phases are to provide 2000 more jobs to the locals.
The President, consequently, lauded the visionary leadership, the enterprising approach and hard work of the management of the Company, which had brought the business thus far.
Keda (Ghana) Ceramics Company Limited, formerly called Twyford Ghana Ceramics, is located in the Shama District of the Western Region.
It produces and distributes assorted tiles and plans to add basins and other sanitary wares to the production line.
President Akufo-Addo said, “We appreciate your commitment to our country…we shall justify that confidence in us”.
He urged them to continue to expand their frontiers, especially with the African Continental Free Trade Area, headquartered in Ghana, to penetrate the ECOWAS market and even beyond.
He pledged to lead a focused country, with a cause to implement good economic policies that would inure to the well-being of all citizens.
He thus prayed for industrial harmony to ensure that the sky became the stepping stone for Ghana’s industrialisation drive.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Michael Okyere Baafi, emphasised the Government’s commitment to ensure that more industries were established to create jobs.
“We are ready and open to private sector engagements in furtherance of this,” he added.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, lauded the company for employing over 2000 locals to give hope to the hitherto unemployed individuals.
The Managing Director of the Company, Mr. Lorry Li, expressed gratitude to the President for the continual support, saying, “This demonstrates your personal interest in our company and the industrialisation drive for the good people of Ghana.”
The vision of the company, he said, was to become the premier producer of ceramic tiles and to make Ghana the industrial hub of Africa in order to meet the demand for Africa, America, and the European Markets.
“This vision was a promise we made to you and the good people of Ghana during the commissioning of our first phase and second phase in January 2018 and September 2019, respectively.”
The completion of the fourth phase will increase production capacity to 150,000 square meters per day, which is expected to increase revenue generation for the government through the payment of taxes.
The factory, which is into the production and distribution of tiles, would operate at a designed production capacity of 14.4 million square metres per year with annual sales.
The factory, a subsidiary of Sunda (MU) Holdings Limited, a Chinese company, is a boost to the 1D1F initiative.
Source: GNA