Uriel Marquaye (left) seated next to Christine Esi Akuffo (right) at a media briefing
A 22,000-acres Dawa Industrial City project which consists of 2,000 acres Dawa Industrial Zone (DIZ) and a 20,000 acres land earmarked for the establishment of modern settlement is set to create about 80,000 jobs for Ghanaians.
Land Holdings, a subsidiary of LMI holdings as well as portfolio managers of the Dawa City Limited, have estimated that over 250,000 indirect jobs could also be created when the city operates at full capacity.
Touted as the “New Tema”, the industrial city could boast of a well laid out asphalted road network, a drainage system, access to fibre-optic broadband internet services, and a 330 kilovolts (kV) substation which has a 99 per cent uptime.
Speaking to journalists during a tour of the DIZ, Uriel Marquaye, the Business Development Manager of the Dawa City Limited, explained that even though there were currently six companies operating within the zone, there was space for up to 2,000 industries to set up within the enclave.
He indicated that the DIZ project was a private sector-led initiative to complement the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda of the government, which among other things seeks to transform the economic structure of the country from that of consumption to production.
In that regard, he said more infrastructure was needed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country while special packages have been designed to help local manufacturing companies set up within the enclave.
“We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ghana Chamber of Pharmacy and we have given them about 132 acres to encourage local manufacturers to come here and set up,” he said.
Talks, he also noted, were far advanced for LMI holdings to partner government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry to put up industrial parks across selected regions in the country, adding that “what the industry needs now is a policy direction from Parliament.”
Operations Manager of Land Holdings, Christine Esi Akuffo, indicated that the DIZ intended to host a wide range of light and heavy industries across various sectors. These include agro-processing, garments and textiles, logistics, materials, and metal fabrication, automobile sectors among others.
She said there were other projects, aside Dawa City project, which had the potential to significantly alter decade-long business processes and deliver economic value to the country, were in various stages of design and implementation.
These, she mentioned, include, the 16 megawatts rooftop solar panel system mounted on the 125.000 meters square mega warehouse, which is situated within the Greenwich Industrial Park of the Tema Free Zones enclave.
By Issah Mohammed