Mahama visits factories in Afienya/Tema

President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday embarked on a day’s working visit to some factories in the Bright International Industrial Zone and Tema Free Zones Enclave. The President, who was accompanied by Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, first cut the sod for the development of the Afienya Industrial Park. Among factories the President visited at the Bright International Industrial Zone, were Jiudine Ghana Corporation – a readymade garment and apparel manufacturing company, Huaguang New Energy Battery Ghana Limited Company and Qianfeng International corporation limited (Ghana), which specialises in the production and global export of caps and hats. In addition, he visited Zema New Energy, which produces solar panels and batteries and One Don Funsheen, which assembles truck and fuel tankers. He also visited a factory that was producing barges, to be put on the Volta Lake to transport items from Akosombo to the North, to Buipe. At the Free Zones Enclave in Tema, President Mahama visited Dignity DTRT, a garment manufacturing company. Addressing the media at the Bright International Industrial Zone in Afienya, President Mahama recalled his visit to the place year ago, and but there were not too many factories established there yet at the time. He said the expansion was in line with the 24-hour economy, beginning to show the job creation aspect of it, providing employment for several young people, and were working in shifts. He noted that they were working to resolve the power issues at the Bright International Industrial Zone, adding that because of the fast expansion of the industries there, the power substation had become too small to contain them. President Mahama gave the assurance that the Minister of Energy and GRIDCo had assured the government that in the next three weeks, they would change the transformer, for the area to enjoy reliable power supply for the effective running of a shift system. He commended the factories for promoting Ghana’s industrial programme. He however said next year, things were going to get even faster because they were launching the New Economy Programme. The President stated that the New Economy Programme was where the government invested two billion dollars every year in sectors that were rich in job creation. This, he said would be agriculture and irrigation, agro-processing enclaves, pharmaceutical enclaves, renewable energy, tourism, and so many other sectors. He said they were going to put two billion dollars every year into these sectors in order that they could create more jobs for their young people. He expressed his happiness to see more of the youth now in gainful employment. President Mahama said the good thing was that in all the factories and industries the visited, women formed up a good percentage of the labour force. He said in textiles and garments, women constituted more than 90 per cent of the labour force. President Mahama said even in the industrial areas, such as automobile manufacturing and the battery manufacturing factory, young women and young men, were there holding their own.