Asuenyi gari factory to begin operations in July

The Asueyi gasification plant and gari processing factory will begin operation by July this year, says the Techiman North District Planning Officer, Ernest Adarkwa Yiadom.

According to him, electrical fittings, burners for frying processed cassava into gari and other key components would by then have been installed for the factory to start full operation.

That, he said, would provide direct and indirect job employment opportunities for women and youth living in Asueyi and beyond to develop sustainable cassava-based farm and non–farm business opportunities for the growth of the local economy.

A statement jointly signed by the Planning Officer and his District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Everson Addo Donkor, and copied to the Ghanaian Times yesterday at Tuobodom in the Bono East Region said unlimited access to the raw material sources would be considered.

The Ghanaian Times in the November 25, 2021 issue reported that a multi-million dollar gasification plant and a mechanized gari processing factory were abandoned at Asueyi in the Techiman North district.

The Ghanaian Times reported that one of the burners that had developed technical fault delayed the functioning of the facility which was completed in 2017, while residents had earlier threatened to demonstrate against authority bearers on the factory’s neglect.

“We have recommended to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to introduce improved fast yielding, pest and drought-resistant cassava varieties to farmers to improve the raw material base of the facility,” the statement added.

Mr Adarkwa Yiadom noted that through a private-public partnership (PPP) agreement, professional engineers, technicians, mechanics and administrative staff would be recruited to man the factory.

The statement further said certain portions of the site would be paved, gutters constructed and special soak-away pits would be constructed to collect the liquid waste of the facility, thereby meeting the local and international standards of a factory.

Mr Adarkwa Yiadom disclosed that the Advance Information Technology Institute of Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (AITI – KACE), at a site meeting promised to release personnel from its outfit for the installation of automated systems of the facility.

“The Ghana Investment Infrastructure Fund (GIIF) pledged to provide funding for the installation of the automated systems,” the Planning officer added.

The Assembly Member for Asueyi Electoral Area, Mr Benjamin Yeboah, was grateful to the Ghanaian Times for the publication, saying that “posterity will remember your good deeds to the people of Asueyi and beyond.”

Mr Yeboah noted that the Bono East Regional Minister, Mr Adu Gyan, the Department of Agriculture and a high-level team from Accra, including the local contractor among other key stakeholders, had visited the facility after the publication.