Accra, Nov. 15, GNA - The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and President's Special Initiatives is working at developing a vibrant technology-driven, competitive industrial sector that significantly contributes to economic growth and employment creation, particularly involving mass mobilization of rural communities and other vulnerable groups including women.

This was announced by Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, in his 2007 budget statement presented to Parliament on Thursday.

He noted that the District Industrialization Programme (DIP) released GH=A22.0 million for the rehabilitation and operation of the defunct Juapong Textiles Factory under a new name Volta Star Textile Company Limited and the Northern Star Tomato Company. He said 20 selected districts would be allocated seed capital to support their industrial projects for which business plans had already been completed.

Each district project would be established as a Private Limited Liability Company with a management team comprising both local and foreign strategic investors.

The Technology Improvement Programme (TIP) also under the Ministry's programmes identified strategic investors for the Technology Innovation Centre for Capital Goods.

"About five local banks namely, GCB Ltd, NIB Ltd, ECOBANK (Gh) Ltd, Prudential Bank Ltd, CAL Bank Ltd and Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa, had been invited to take equity in the centre." He said the Ministry would in addition train 4,000 new sewing operators at the Clothing Technology and Training Centre in Accra and secure US$9.6 million orders for garment manufacturing companies operating under the PSI.

There would also be the cultivation about 16,800 hectares of palm oil using about 2,520,000 seedlings from the existing nurseries to bring the total palm oil planted to 47,437 hectares.

Mr Baah-Wiredu said the Ministry would continue to pursue programmes that would facilitate the development of commercially viable domestic and export market oriented enterprises, especially in the rural areas and play a critical role in increasing competitiveness of local producers in the domestic and international markets.

He said the Ministry would develop business plans for two salt terminals and provide infrastructure for the bulk transportation of salt produced by entrepreneurs, while facilitating the establishment of 3,000 acres of cassava farm for the Ayensu Starch Factory.

The Minister said the Ministry would further collaborate with CSIR, Embrapa and Cassava Research Centre in Cote d'Ivoire to establish a Cassava Starch Research Centre in Ghana.

Mr Baah-Wiredu observed that the sugar industry had been dormant for the last three decades in spite of the sector's potential, as the Asutsuare and Komenda sugar factories that supported local industry in the past had collapsed in spite of previous attempts to revive them. He said Government was engaged in discussions with major international investors towards a revival of the industry with the appropriate incentives.

Mr Baah-Wiredu said the Ministry would focus on the implementation of the Trade Sector Support Programme (TSSP), and the Industrial Sector Support Programme (ISSP) with the objective of producing value-added goods in which Ghana had competitive advantage. He said the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB) registered 16 companies bringing the number of companies to 170 and commenced the installation of an electronic monitoring system in all free zones companies to make monitoring more efficient.

The GFZB also started the installation of electronic seals to monitor and track imported consignment in transit.

The Board, he said, would implement and monitor wide area network (WAN) under the management information system (MIS) to enhance collaboration with Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) for auditing of free zones companies.

It will also construct a security fence wall and develop the MPIP in order to increase the productivity of companies and also develop the Ashanti Technology Park and implement the marketing communications plan (MCP).

The Minister said for the implementation of the above activities, an amount of GH=A260,015,812 had been allocated, out of which the Government of Ghana was providing GH=A213,030,048, internally generated fund GH=A25,954,880, donor fund GH=A231,030,884, and HIPC is GH=A210,000,000.