Ghana’s leading total beverage company, Guinness Ghana Brewery Limited (GGBL), has commissioned a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production plant at its Achimota site in Accra. The GHC 51.6 million facility is part of the beverage company’s commitment to continuously invest in the country.

Commissioning the new plant, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten said Guinness Ghana has made significant contributions to the development of the country over the years and continues to support the socio-economic development of the country even after 58 years of operations in the country.

“This investment is coming at a time when government is talking about a new industrial transformation agenda for our country. It could not have been a better testimony of the vision of our President and where we want to lead this country”, he added.

Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, commended Guinness Ghana for its contribution to job creation and commitment to developing communities through its social responsibility initiatives; while also step changing the cassava starch initiative which was started under the erstwhile Kuffour administration; adding, “GGBL has taken this up and developed what I think is a fantastic product (Ruut Beer) and creating what could potentially become another cash cow for the country.”

The Supply Chain Director at GGBL, Isaac Tosu, briefing the gathering about the production line said the primary raw materials for production at the new facility will be sorghum and maize and the consequent effect will be the increased demand for local raw materials.

“Our Local Raw Materials (LRM) programme which was initiated in 2012, currently sources up to 48% of raw materials from local farmers and our ambition is to increase it to 70% by 2020 following the commissioning of this plant”, Isaac Tosu said.

He added that the coming on-stream of the new plant will in no doubt impact the local economy, as GGBL is committed to the LRM initiative which has seen significant investment and impact in the agricultural value chain.

Commenting on Diageo’s newest investment on the continent, the President of Diageo Africa John O’Keeffe, indicated that Diageo is a long-term player on the continent and is excited by the potential impact of the group’s investments on the continent, particularly Ghana.

John O’Keeffe said, “Diageo is committed to investing where we source, make and sell our products therefore we are delighted that we are able to support LRM production capacity here in Ghana. This commitment to local raw material use cuts across our other African markets including Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

In line with Diageo’s Purpose of Celebrating Life Everyday Everywhere, we are excited that through our investment in LRM, we are able to impact the lives of the farmers from whom we source and the livelihoods that depend on them as well as the communities within which we work”.

The commissioning of the new line was attended by government officials, Diageo officials, the Chief of Achimota, industry representatives and a section of the media.