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Chinese investors will build Ghana's largest sugar factory around Bui Dam in Banda County, Bono District, BTA reports.

Samuel Kofi Dzamesi, the CEO of Bui Power Authority, which operates the Bui Dam (BGS) hydroelectric power plant, said the authority had signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese investors to build at the plant.

Dzamesi said the actual construction works will start in June this year and will be completed in 2024.

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Once operational, the plant will produce around 60,000 tonnes of sugar per year for export and the domestic market.

Accordingly, the Ghanaian authorities have allocated about 13,000 acres of land to the investor company Bui Sugar Limited in Favoman in the same Banda District.

The company has already planted about 250 hectares (2,500 acres, ed. note) of sugarcane to provide raw materials to feed the factory.

"Actually, under the MoU, Bui Power Authority has an equity stake," Dzamesi noted as he escorted Justina Owusu-Banahene, Bono regional minister, to the construction site in Favoman during her two-day working visit to the Bui Dam area .

Accompanied by some members of the Bono Regional Security Council, as well as municipal and county leaders in the area, Owusu-Banahene was at the site to familiarize herself with the operation of the 400 megawatt Bui Hydroelectric Plant.

Dzamesi explained that the project has created jobs for about 500 people in the surrounding area, and noted that the factory will indirectly provide more than 5,000 jobs for the local population.

This paves the way for construction to begin, he added, thanking traditional authorities in the area for their support and cooperation.

Wet Hua, the managing director of Bui Sugar, said the plowing is continuing so the company can grow more sugarcane to feed the factory.

He stated that the project has also built a dam and irrigation facilities are being built to improve water supply and increase sugarcane plantations.

Hua praised his company's relationship with the Bui Power Authority and local people, and expressed hope that they would further strengthen mutually beneficial.

Sugar factory

Ghana