The Bono East Development Company (BEDEC) working as a limited liability organisation, to accelerate the development of the region, was making strenuous efforts in collaboration with stakeholders for the completion of the Plant on schedule.
The Gasification Plant was installed as part of a project package for increasing the performance of the Cassava Industry in the West and Central Africa sub-regions.
It is being funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in partnership with the Natural Resources Institute of Greenwich University, United Kingdom, SNV Netherlands Development Organization, the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), and the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Nigeria.
The project aims at enabling poor people such as women and the youth living in rural areas in the West and Central Africa to develop the sustainable cassava-based farm and non-farm business opportunities.
A progress planning report signed by Mr. Everson Addo-Donkor, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Techiman North and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Techiman, indicated plans including an advisory board, had been constituted to provide expert advice and support services for the efficient management and sustainability of the facility.
The report noted that the implementation was moving steadily as the Plant’s installation was almost complete, adding that, plans were far advanced to close mechanization lapses for the facility to be operationalized soon.
It stated that the facility was not yet operational because of issues such as fixing of electrical fittings and also burners to process the cassava into ‘gari’.
On capacity building, the report said efforts were being made to recruit trained mechanical and technical engineering and administrative staff who would operate and manage the facility through a Private-Public Partnership initiative.
It added since best sanitation practice must be a priority in any business, measures had been introduced to improve it through the paving of certain portions of the site and construction of gutters to collect the liquid waste.
Later in an interview, Mr. Kwasi Adu Gyan, the Bono East Regional Minister confirmed the project was about 70 to 80 per cent complete.
The completion of the project would enable the local ‘gari’ processors, who are mostly women to get the benefit of large scale industrial production of the commodity to enhance their source of income for better living conditions among other advantages of the project.
info@businessghana.com
