A viability assessment is underway to seek out modalities for investment and analysis on the projected returns on investment.

The move is in line with the government's vision of creating jobs for the youth and building an industrailisation driven economy.

Madam Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, made this known when she led a delegation of Ghana Eximbank officials to inspect the Volta Star Textiles facility on Tuesday.

The company has not been operational since July 24, 2023 due to huge power debt and operational inefficiencies caused by the deployment of obsolete technologies.

The minister said for a country interested in import substitution, there was a good case to revive the company that used to produce quality grey bafts for the local textile industries.

Reviving the company, she said, would see the use of efficient technology and cheaper alternative source of power to augment supply from the national grid.

"You know, if you are importing all these grey bafts for the number of local companies we've mentioned, it will go without saying that we need foreign exchange to do this. But if we are producing in-house, apart from the job creation, there will be no pressure on our cedi," Madam Ofosu-Adjare said.

Mr Slyvester Mensah, the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Eximbank, said in reviving the factory, government must provide the public leadership while the private sector drove the industry.

Mr Mensah said the bank would be interested in understanding the country's competitiveness and the dynamics of the grey baft industry within the African sub-region.

Mr Jerome Dunyo, the Managing Director of the company, suggested a Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a viable solution to solving the factory's challenges.

The grey baft industry, he maintained, remained viable for the Volta Star Textile when operational to supply the products not only to the textile companies but to schools, hospitals and other institutions in Ghana and the rest of Africa.

"All the schools, secondary or second cycle schools and third cycle schools are demanding fabric from us for their practical works," Mr Dunyo said.

"The hospitals are demanding fabrics from us for their beds. Even the mines are demanding fabrics for their gold dust bags. The flour mills are demanding fabric from us for their bags. The kente weavers want our fabric to line their smocks."

Over the years the company's staff strength had dwindled from 2400 to 505.
It was established in 1968 to be the leading producer of gray baft to feed textile industries locally and other neighbouring countries.

The minister and her delegation also took a tour to the Akosombo Textiles limited where she interacted with staff and inspected operations of the company.
She hinted of government's support to help the company scale up production.