A senior economist with the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John K. Kwakye, says government’s flagship industrialization policy, one district-one factory, must be re-engineered if it is to yield the right results.
Addressing the press in Accra on February 25 as part of IEA’s assessment of the President’s state of the nation address, Dr. Kwakye stated that while the idea of industrialization is good, its execution must be done taking cognizance of the country’s previous attempts at industrializing.
“The 1D1F should be informed by our previous industrialization experiences and international best practices. There is a need for careful planning in terms of what kind of products we want to produce; the kind of factory sizes; where should they be located and then the supply chain.”
“It has also been suggested that dotting factories all over the country is probably not the best approach. Other successful countries created what they call large industrial parks comprising strategic industrial conglomerates,” Dr. Kwakye stated.
1D1F progress made
President Nana Akufo-Addo delivering the State of the Nation Address last week said the 1-District-1-Factory is progressing and beginning to show dividends.
He stated that a total of 181 projects, spread across the 112 districts, are currently at various stages of implementation under the programme.
He said Fifty-eight companies already in operation; 26 projects currently under construction; 58 AfDB small-scale projects ready for sod cutting in the early part of this year; and 26 pipeline projects are ready to commence implementation by the 1st quarter of this year.
EXIM Bank last month signed a US$100 million facility with Credit Suisse to help complete, this year, twenty (20) of the export-related factories.
It is envisaged that the 1D1F initiative will generate a total of 228,866 direct and indirect jobs.
Even though the latest Ghana Living Standards Survey has recorded a drop in unemployment from 11.9% in 2015 to 7.3% in 2019, a lot more needs to be done to create more jobs with urgency.
