Former Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah has disclosed that the Komenda sugar factory can never produce sugar.
According to him, there are about 37 missing essential components in the equipment build up of the factory and without those components, the factory cannot operate to even produce a cup of sugar.
Members of the Minority Caucus on Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee say persons whose actions led to the non-operationalization of the Komenda sugar factory will be prosecuted if the opposition National Democratic Congress wins the next elections.
They also blamed the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) for undervaluing the price of the factory, which was pegged at US$50 million to US$12 million, hence causing financial loss to the state.
They accused the current administration of playing politics with the issues relating to the factory and propagating factually inaccurate narratives to score cheap political points.
This came to light after Ranking Member of Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah led a delegation to the factory to get first-hand information on the state of the factory.
But speaking on Okay Fm's Ade Akye Abia programme, he explained that when the NPP was voted into power they "contracted engineers to assess the viability of the factory to see if they can make it operational to produce sugar for local consumption and possibly for exportation. But an intensive test conducted by astute engineers with some from AESL showed that the project lacked some 37 essential components which without them the factory cannot work."
"More so, the project was over priced. The Mahama administration told us that the project cost 35 million dollars but when we conducted separate pricing of the project by two separate engineering firms, the total cost of the project was 12 million dollars," he revealed.
The Tema West MP further disclosed that even the sugar that was reportedly showcased as a product of the factory was bought from
"The question is why did the NDC throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians an over priced which is more or less a white elephant. The factory could not produce even a pint of sugar because documents available to Ministry of Trade and Industry indicates that the sugar that was showcased during its commissioning was bought from some one.
"They actually bought 400 bags of sugar from someone who later turned up at the ministry with receipts to demand for his money but we told him off and vowed not to pay," Hon Ahenkorah said.
To him, it will not be advisable for the Akufo Addo government to invest in the Komenda sugar factory again.
"What the government should do now which i think they have already started is to find a strategic investor who will pump funds into the Komenda sugar factory and keep the factory running for its purpose," he added.
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Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]
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