Boeing, the American aircraft manufacturing company, is considering using the Tamale airport as a base for the repair and maintenance of all its aircraft plying within the West African sub-region.

Plans are far advanced for work to start and this would facilitate air travel between Tamale and the rest of the world, Trade and Industry Minister, Dr. Kofi Apraku announced in Tamale on Monday.

He was addressing the business community as part of a two-day working visit to the Northern Region.

Dr. Apraku, who was accompanied by his deputy, Mr. Boniface Abubakar Saddique, is assessing the state of industries in the region to see how the government can assist to resuscitate the dormant or collapsed ones.

Dr. Apraku said the government has also met potential investors from South Africa who have expressed interest in the construction of a railway to link Southern and Northern Ghana.

"That is not impossible. There are countries, which are 10 times bigger than Ghana that have a good and elaborate rail network."

He expressed regret that in the last 10 years, no industry has been established in the region. "But within the last 18 years, 84 per cent of industries established in the country have been cited in the Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area."

Dr. Apraku said the government is committed to changing this trend by ensuring even development throughout the country.

He said priority would be given to agro-based industries, which he described as the cornerstone of Ghana?s industrialisation process.

At a meeting with the staff of the ministry, Ghana Standards Board and the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI), Dr. Apraku said the NBSSI is to be re-organised to make it proactive.

He said it was unacceptable that the Ghana Export Promotion Centre had no representative in the region and promised to send one immediately.

The Regional Manager of NBSSI, Mr. Ibrahim Ishmael Gombilla, said there had been a lot of documentation on the NBBSI but there was no political will to implement any of the recommendations.