Western Region Minister Kobby Otchere Darko-Mensah has asked for equity in funding for the One-District One-Factory (1D1F) Initiative by the EXIM Bank.
He is also asking for a second look at the charges regime at the ports.
Kobby Otchere Darko-Mensah was speaking at the end of a three-day familiarization tour of some facilities in his Region by the Council of State.
In expressing gratitude to the Council for the visit, the regional minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Takoradi Constituency, called for the intervention of the Council for another look at the sharing of funds for 1D1F.
“We thank the president for the developmental projects in the Region but we have asked them to help fill the gaps. One of them is the 1D1F and the way the EXIM Bank actually shares the money.
“We believe that it should be by allocation. Every region should have a minimum allocation for investment into the One District One Factory so that we can have a minimum need being satisfied.”
He cited that if the Greater Accra Region, for instance, has more industries applying for funds, they may get more “but there should be a base, and that is one area they should look at”.
He also raised some concerns about the charges at the ports.
“The other issue also has to do with the ports. Because of the way the pricing is done, if you land(ed) in Tema, maybe you are charged GH¢10,000 for docking.
“[But] if you come to Takoradi, you are also charged another GH¢10,000 for docking. So if you have a lot of load, for example a thousand, and say you are offloading 800 in Tema, why would you come and offload in Takoradi again and pay GH¢10,000 when you can pay that same amount and offload all in Tema?
“So all we are saying is that there should be a package so that those who want to do double stop don’t pay double. There can be one, a 20 percent and one, a 30 percent so that [the ships] can also come to the Takoradi Port and make it also active,” he said.
