Komenda Sugar Factory now an albatross – Minister

The controversy surrounding the Komenda Sugar Factory seems not to be ending soon as the Central Regional Minister, Mr. Kwamena Duncan, has cast further doubt on the readiness of the factory to resume full operations.

According to Mr. Duncan, the necessary resources needed to support production at the factory are not available.

The comment means that Ghanaians would have to wait a while to taste sugar from the Komenda Sugar Factory as the minister has indicated the factory is not well positioned to produce sugar for the market.

The factory, he added, had become an albatross on the neck of the new government due to the poor implementation plan put forward by the past government.



He said the previous administration failed to involve the relevant stakeholders in coming up with the idea to revamp the factory.

Speaking to the media after a meeting with authorities of the University of Cape Coast, where he lauded researchers at the university for coming up with a new breed of sugarcane which could prove most viable in sustaining the sugar factory, the regional minister indicated that the restoration of operations at the factory had been bedeviled with other challenges such as making land available for the sugarcane plantation project to feed the factory.

He added that the government was working around the clock to restart operations at the factory, not only to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the area but also to help the country cut down its import of sugar.

A committee, he said, had already been set up to work to resolve the challenges inhibiting activities at the factory, especially on land issues.

He stressed that the committee had even recommended a collaboration with the Western Region to acquire the needed land size to cultivate sugarcane to feed the factory as it would be costly to be imported from other areas.

Source: dailyheritage.com.gh