By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Savelugu, Aug 29, GNA – President John Mahama has inaugurated Northshore Apparel Ghana Limited, a state-of-the-art garment manufacturing facility built on a reclaimed land at Savelugu in the Northern Region.
The facility, which formed part of the government’s 24-hour economy initiative, is targeted at producing high-quality and sustainable garments including T-shirts, polo shirts, fleece hoodies, children’s wear, sportswear, underwear, leggings and trousers for global fashion brands.
The facility, which is being developed in three phases, currently has 50 sewing lines spread across a 40,000-square-metre production facility on a 50-acre campus.
It also comprises a 4,000-square-metre cutting and design facility, two warehouses of 4,000 square metres each, a 1,500-square-metre dining facility, an administration block, offices and locker rooms.
The facility has a 500-kilowatt peak solar power installation, an anaerobic baffled biodigester, a 600,000-litre underground water reservoir supported by mechanised boreholes, an on-site clinic and facilities to support workers, including persons with disabilities.
The project is being funded through a partnership involving the Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM), Germany’s Investing for Employment through the KfW Development Bank among other partners.
President Mahama, in an address at the inauguration ceremony, said the investment demonstrated the kind of partnership his administration sought to promote with international development partners, stressing that Ghana was looking for investment rather than aid.
He said the Northern Region possessed several comparative advantages capable of attracting more investors including peace and stability, safety and security, abundant litigation-free land, reliable electricity, affordable labour, and improved road and air transport infrastructure.
President Mahama said the government was also working to expand the Tamale water supply system to provide an additional 40 million gallons of water to Tamale, Savelugu and surrounding communities with funding support expected from the European Union.
He said the government would introduce net metering to enable companies with solar power installations to feed excess electricity into the national grid and receive credits for the power supplied thereby helping industries reduce their energy costs.
The President said Northshore Apparel Ghana Limited fitted into the government’s vision of creating jobs and accelerating exports under the 24-hour economy policy.
He said the factory had already created significant employment opportunities, noting that the company had trained and deployed more than 2,300 operators while the expansion into multiple shifts would create additional jobs for young people.
President Mahama further announced plans to strengthen government’s procurement policies to give preference to locally manufactured products.
He said a list of licensed Ghanaian products would be developed in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority to guide procurement by government institutions.
He said the initiative would enable government agencies, schools and hospitals to procure locally manufactured products instead of imported alternatives thereby creating a ready market for Ghanaian industries.
Alhaji Nurudeen Mohammed, Chief Executive Officer of Northshore Apparel Ghana Limited said the establishment of the factory was the product of collaboration among investors, financiers, development partners, traditional authorities, workers and other stakeholders.
He said the factory was deliberately located away from Accra to create decent employment opportunities for people in northern Ghana and help reduce the migration of young people to major cities in search of jobs.
Alhaji Mohammed said Northshore Apparel Ghana Limited was being developed in three phases with the first phase focusing on garment manufacturing.
He said the second phase would expand the sewing capacity to 200 lines alongside the establishment of a cotton facility and additional solar power generation with battery storage.
The third phase, he said, would establish a fabric mill and a cotton outgrower scheme in the sub-region, adding that the facility was designed to combine productivity with environmental sustainability and worker welfare, while the solar plant and biodigester were intended to support a low-carbon production system.
He indicated that the on-site clinic and other worker-support facilities would help reduce avoidable absenteeism and improve workers’ wellbeing.
Alhaji Mohammed said the company had already engaged 40 persons with hearing impairment in collaboration with the School for the Deaf and would deliberately expand opportunities for persons with disabilities to earn decent livelihoods.
He appealed to Ghanaians to take ownership of the facility and protect it saying its success would demonstrate that major industries could be established and operated successfully in northern Ghana.
Yoo-Naa Abdulai Yakubu Andani, Paramount Chief of the Savelugu Traditional Area, commended President Mahama and the Management of the company for establishing the facility and said it had the potential to reduce unemployment and youth migration particularly among young women, who travelled to Accra, Kumasi and other cities to engage in menial jobs.
The Yoo-Naa appealed to President Mahama to prioritise the improvement of roads in the area to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services to make the region more attractive to investors.
He appealed for the dualisation of the Tamale-Bolgatanga Highway under the government’s Big Push infrastructure programme describing it as important to improving connectivity and supporting economic development in the area.
Yoo-Naa Andani also called for government’s support to complete the proposed merger between the University for Development Studies’ Faculty of Veterinary Science and the Animal Health and Production College at Pong-Tamale to expand opportunities for students to pursue higher-level training in veterinary medicine.
GNA
Edited by Eric K Amoh/Benjamin Mensah
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