Kofi Bentil
Vice-President of IMANI Ghana, a policy think-tank has cautioned government against making any further investment in the Komenda Sugar factory in the Central region, shut down for close to two years.
Kofi Bentil, a policy analyst and a lawyer is convinced there is “no way that factory is going to produce sugar at a commercial price”.
This is the same position he held when the Mahama government announced it was going to revamp the company.
When in May 2016 President John Mahama commissioned the factory, Kofi Bentil predicted it would produce more propaganda than sugar because there were no feasibility studies backing the viability of the project.
In a case of I-told-you-so, the factory built through a $35million Indian bank facility has not been running for the last two years.
Researchers from the University of Cape Coast (UCC) after a study conducted last month cast doubt on the likelihood of the factory operating any time soon.
The management of the factory could muster only16,000 tonnes of sugar cane to feed a facility that needs 300,000-tonnes to run on an annual basis, the researchers found.
There are calls for the government to continue the work began by its predecessor to make the factory designed to provide 7,300 jobs live to its billing.
But Kofi Bentil has advised against it.
“This govt should not spend one dollar more on that factory at Komenda…any dollar you spend on that factory is wasted “, he told Daniel Dadzie, the host of the Joy FM Super Morning Show Friday.
He explained the world is growing tired of sugar because of its associated health problems when consumed excessively. He repeated a 2016 argument that sugar mills in Brazil are shutting down because of falling sugar prices on the international market.
He questioned the wisdom in entering a venture which others are leaving without any peculiar advantage.
-Myjoyonline