Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, Chief Executive Officer of GN Group of companies, has offered to partner government under the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) initiative to support six companies establish rice mills across all regions of the country.
He explained that such a partnership, with financial support from the banks, could help to reduce rice importation by, at least, 30 percent in the next three years.
“We want to make the rice project, through the 1D1F initiative, work in all the 10 regions; not that we own all of them but we help support six others as part of the project,” he explained.
Nduom said his company has so far been able to set up a successful rice mill in Worawora in the Volta Region.
Adding, they are currently investing in the establishment of three more rice mills in Karaga, Assin Bereku, and Wenchi.
He made this known on the second day of the Ghana Economic Forum in Accra, September 5.
President Akufo-Addo launched the 1D1F initiative in 2017 to be the bedrock of a massive industrialisation campaign across country; to equip and empower communities to utilise their local resources in manufacturing products that are in high demand both locally and internationally.
Dr. Nduom urged government to partner with existing local factories, rather than focus on only green field companies to ensure the success of the 1D1F initiative to boost its capacities and provide jobs for people.
“We can’t do 1D1F by just bringing on new entities, it won’t work, and they may not have the experience as we do. So the 1D1F must also be, to a large extent, on the backs of those companies who are existing already,” he stressed.
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in his remarks revealed government is working to ensure that digital payments systems such as; mobile money and e-zwich, amongst others, will fully be integrated by 2019, allowing all payments to be done electronically.
“We have already seen significant improvements in the velocity of money via the interoperability system, and the volumes of such transactions.
“Going forward, we intend to integrate all the above payment channels to provide a platform for receipt of all government payments electronically. We expect to launch this next year, all things being equal,” he added.
GSB