Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has urged stakeholders in the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority’s (SADA) economic zone, to create the conditions for attracting investment and business development to make the SADA programme a viable growth initiative.

He said the savanna ecological zone’s vast resource potential was a game changer in the economic dynamics of northern Ghana, and the country as a whole, insisting therefore that no effort should be spared in utilizing those resources to hasten the development of that area, to improve the well-being of the people.

Mr Amissah-Arthur made the call when he officially opened SADA’s maiden Business and Investment Forum (SABIF) 2015, at the Tamale Sport Stadium.

SABIF 2015 is a collaborative event between the SADA and the Ghana Institute of Engineers (GHiE), whose Annual Engineering Week celebration has been geared towards the rapid improvement of infrastructure, and the utilization of relevant technology in the Savanna belt.

The event is being celebrated under the theme: “Engineering opportunities and shared prosperity in the Savannah Region of Ghana."

The forum is to facilitate and promote multi-stakeholder investment policy dialogue and business matchmaking opportunities.

It is expected that SABIF 2015 will contribute positively to the process of business and investment co-operation, and ensure that transactions at the forum will lead to concrete actions, as SADA pursues a purposeful and structured transformation agenda.

Vice President Amissah-Aurthur who commended the new Board and the Management of SADA in its approach at delivering on the aims and objectives of the programme, stressed the need for a collaborative effort in harnessing the investment opportunities for a sustainable and enduring development.

He said there was the utmost need to build the capacity of local communities, to participate effectively in the development agenda of the north, advising the traditional rulers to streamline the acquisition of land to facilitate investment into the SADA region.

He gave the assurance that government would lend the required support to enable the Savannah ecological zone attain the desired socio-economic transformation.

Mr Charles Abugri, the Chief Executive Officer of SADA, said the area had the potential to lift the growth and transformational prospects of Ghana, if the public and private sectors gave the appropriate attention towards addressing the infrastructural deficits and harnessing the immense resources in the savanna zone.

He said SABIF 2015 was one of the modest efforts to draw attention to the zone as “an economic giant that needs to be awoken”.

Mr Abugri said the SADA zone, with its humongous resource base, when rightly exploited, would not only bridge the development gap between the south and north of Ghana, but would open up frontiers of unimaginable economic opportunities for the country, and propel it into a true middle income nation.

He was hopeful that the Forum would bring about concrete solutions and actions that would turn the investment gaps in the zone into opportunities to benefit the people, the country and the sub-region.

As part of the programme, all the districts in the three northern regions, and the areas in the Volta and Brong-Ahafo regions that fall under the SADA zone, showcased the investment opportunities for agribusiness at a colourful exhibition mounted at the Stadium.

SADA will leverage on the potential of the northern savanna ecological for agribusiness, to attract and promote investment in modern agriculture, infrastructure and irrigation development, manufacturing and industrial development among other things.

The forum has attracted investors from Western and Asian countries, as wells as others in sub-saharan Africa, which would be holding consultations on the modalities for doing business in the country.