The Komenda Sugar Factory has started processing of unrefined sugar after several years of non-operation.
A video which has gone viral shows that the facility has started full operation after several after years of non-operation.
The management of the facility said the measure is to get the factory functioning and produce sugar at a cheaper cost.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen said other works had either been completed or were at the final stages of completion.
He named the works to include the installation of a new pipeline to and from the plant to the molasses tank, and refractories. There is also lagging work in the boiler furnace and chimneys, which is fully completed.
Another was the completion of the vacuum and water testing facility at the boiler house, which had started working, with steam pressure testing ongoing for the turbine to generate three megawatts (MW) of electricity, the minister added.
Background
The Komenda Sugar Factory was built at a cost of $35 million from an Indian EXIM Bank facility.
It was inaugurated by then-President John Mahama in May 2016, but stopped operations not long after.
The factory was expected to employ 7,300 people along the value chain, boosting employment prospects in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem municipality.
President Akufo-Addo had given indications that the Komenda Sugar Factory would be fully operationalised in April 2022.
At the time, he said there were some civil works ongoing at the factory site, and that by the end of March 2022, all those activities would be completed to pave way for production.
A Ghanaian-Indian company, Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, is the new investor who will take over the operations of the factory.
The government in 2019 said the company was expected to inject $28 million into the factory between 2020 and 2023.
$11 million was to go into sugarcane cultivation; $6 million to upgrade plant and machinery, and $11 million as working capital to bring the ailing factory back on its feet.
