GHANA – The One-District, One-Factory (1D1F) an initiative of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has since inception supported 76 factories to start operations in a number of districts in Ghana.

This was revealed by Mr Alan John Kojo Kyerematen, the Minister of Trade and Industry who also noted that since the initiative was first introduced in Ghana in 2016, 118,811 direct jobs had been created.

Some of the largest projects under the 1D1F Project include the Kasapreko Water, Juice and Soft Drinks Factory which was launched recently and the commissioning of Twyford Ceramics factory in January 2018.

According to President Akufo Addo, the US$28 million Kaspreko factory will employ 300 people directly, and also generate some 3,000 indirect jobs through the supply chain.

The ceramics factory on the other hand, was constructed at a cost of $77.26 million and will operate at a designed production capacity of 14.4 million square meters per year with annual sales projected to be $82.8 million.

Additionally, Mr. Alan Kojo noted that 38,532 direct jobs will be created from over 100 1D1F companies under construction and generate additional 247,383 indirect jobs upon completion.

Mr Kyerematen, who announced this at the second edition of the Nation Building Updates in Accra, said currently a total of 232 1D1F projects were ongoing of which 168 were new factories and 64 existing ones that received capital injection.

The Minister said 13 1D,1F projects were in the pipeline with financial institutions going through their credit appraisal system.

The Minister explained that the government was able to leverage on the investments made in the 1D1F projects to get local banks to provide GHc2.3 billion liquidity support.

Consequently, he said, government-subsidized the interest rate of the banks with GHc205 million duty exemption.

The One-District, One-Factory initiative is a private sector-led programme envisioned by the Akufo-Addo-led government aimed at creating a conducive environment for viable businesses to access funding from financial institutions and support services from government agencies to establish factories across the country.

The flagship programme seeks to change the structure of the country’s economy from import and borrowing to export of goods and services, manufacturing and value addition.

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