The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned the Sunda Ghana Diaper Ltd, the largest diaper making factory in sub-saharan Africa.
President Akufo-Addo undertook the commissioning of the factory, which is operating under Government’s 1-District-1-Factory initiative, on Wednesday, 6th December, 2018, the final day of his tour of the Greater Accra Region, at the Bortianor, in the Ngleshie Amanfro constituency.
With an investment of some $84 million, the Sunda Ghana Diaper Ltd will be one of the largest projects operating under the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative, and will be exporting its products to markets in sub-Saharan Africa.
The company, as part of operating under the 1D1F initiative, is currently receiving incentives such as tax holidays, import duty waivers and interest rate subsidy to help build its capacity and competitiveness, and, thereby, position it greater productivity and efficiency.
Addressing the gathering, President Akufo-Addo indicated that, “we have to attract investment into Ghana like Mr. Y.C. Chang, people who believe that the investment climate of our country is good, the governance of our country is good, and the opportunities for investment in our country are good.”
With Sunda Ghana Limited set to establish two more factories under the 1-District-1-Factory initiative, i.e. Homepro Ghana Limited with an additional investment of USD$26 million and Sunda Hardware Limited with an additional investment of USD$18 million, the President stressed that, “what it means is that the work we are doing to strengthen the macroeconomy in our country is not some paper work, it is not talk, talk work.”
He continued, “It has to do with creating the conditions for investment in our country, and that is why it is extremely important for government to commit itself to the discipline that would enable it have a strong macroeconomy.”
President Akufo-Addo assured that, “so long as I am your President, that discipline is going to be there in the management of the economy. We are not going to preside over widening deficits, high debts, high rates of interest, unstable currency, erratic power supply. That is not the path of the Akufo-Addo government for Ghana.”
Apart from establishing a strong macro economy, providing good governance, he noted that the other important contribution of government to the economic development of our country is to make sure that Ghanaian industries, and industries established in Ghana, do not meet unfair competition from others.
“So that is another responsibility of government, to create a level playing field for Ghanaian industries. It is establishing industries here in Ghana that we can get work for our young people. When we continue to depend on imports, we are creating jobs for other people overseas. Let us work hard to create jobs here for our people in Ghana, by encouraging investments like what we are seeing today,” he added.
To the Chiefs and people of Bortianor/Ngleshie Amanfro, President Akufo-Addo urged them to “collaborate with our Chinese friends who have shown confidence in our country, and let them see that Ghanaian people know how to conduct ourselves properly, and we know how to conduct ourselves properly.”
The Chairman of Sunda International Y.C Shen disclosed the projections of the new baby diapers factory in Ghana.
‘’We project is currently operating a total of seven (7) production lines for diapers, sanitary napkins and wet wipes, and we will increase to ten (10) production lines next year. This will be the largest diaper factory in Africa.’’
He also said plans are far advanced for the company to set up more manufacturing factories in different parts of Ghana as they are happy to take business advantage of the Ghana government’s rural industrialisation policy of 1D1F.
‘’Your government’s policy of ‘One-District-One-Factory’ encourages investors to set up a factory in every district of Ghana which is what the Chinese government did about 40 years ago and it has industrialised China into one of the world’s biggest economies.’’
‘’Industrialisation’’ he continued, ”remains the main driving force behind every growing economy all over the world today. As Ghana is trying to industrialise, we at Sunda international are happy to be partners in the rural industrialisation development project of the government of Ghana.’’
The Managing Director of Sunda Ghana, Isaac Hu for his part, disclosed the new factory is providing current new jobs and promised more local Ghanaian jobs at full capacity to the benefit of the communities.
‘’This plant is currently providing 500 jobs” he said, adding ”but is expected to provide between 800-1000 jobs when in full operation soon.’’
Mr Hu assured the community of Sunda’s commitment to its corporate social responsibilities over the years.
‘’We have for several years tried building a harmonious relationship with the communities in which we operate our businesses because we are committed to giving back to the community, providing jobs for the community, and providing charitable contributions for the public welfare of the communities in which we operate our businesses.’’
‘’At full production capacity,’’ he added, ‘’the annual output of this factory with all localised production in Ghana. In the case of meeting the needs of the Ghanaian people, Our export to West African countries is estimated to be about 50%.’’
