Financiers of the two major One District One Factory projects in the Central Region, Ghana Export-Import Bank (Ghana EXIM) says the progress of work and growth projections are satisfactory.
Director of Corporate Affairs at Ghana EXIM, Richard Anane, said both the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory and Casa de Ropa are progressing steadily towards growth projects.
“I think it is very satisfactory because these projects were started from scratch. Ekumfi was the first 1D1F project that the President [Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo] cut the sod for somewhere in 2017 and he pledged that there will be a factory cited in Ekumfi using the available raw materials to produce for the local market and export.
“EXIM Bank, the board and management took up the challenge and as disclosed we have done quite well,” he told GhanaWeb.
He made the comments on Thursday, August 6, 2020, in Cape Coast after a tour of the two facilities.
Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory is a government flagship in the One District One Factory programme, located at Ekumfi Nanaben in the Ekumfi District of the Central Region.
The project scope entails the setup of a processing and packaging plant, packhouses and warehousing, storage facilities, packaging units and distribution terminals.
The factory can process an average of 80 to 150 metric tonnes of pineapple and other fruits a day but it currently processes only a little above 70 metric tonnes of pineapple per day.
Ghana EXIM approved a loan facility to Casa de Ropa in 2019 for the production and processing of Orange Flesh Sweet Potatoes into bread, chips and other pastry products.
The GH¢20 million facility from the Ghana EXIM Bank comprises of capital expenditure and working capital. The project is a Green-field project that is being financed from end-to-end. That is funding covers the entire value chain from raw material production to the finished product.
The main raw material, the Orange Flesh Sweet Potato, is locally produced and forms more than 50% of its input in the production of bread, chips and biscuits.
So far some 350 acres of the targeted 1,000 acres of land have been completed making it one of the most audacious projects under the 1D1F programme.
Also, the development and expansion of dams have been completed to enable all-year-round cultivation of the main raw material.
Casa de Ropa has an off-take agreement with Don Limon partners in Hamburg, Germany and Satori B.V, Holland to export some unprocessed Orange Flesh Sweet Potatoes. However, the bulk of the raw material will be processed into various pastry products for local consumption.
Mr Anane said some GH¢60 million has been so far been advanced to the two facilities.
