The Citizen Watch Ghana, a think tank, has expressed deep worry over the government’s inability to establish a single factory under the 1D1F program in the Volta Region.

“We can’t understand why the government and the 1D1F coordinating unit have abandoned the Volta Region, although the industry potentials in the region are huge”, said Mr Elikem Agbenyega, Coordinator for Citizen Watch Ghana.

According to Mr Agbenyega, the construction of a sweet potato factory in Tsito in the Volta Region has been halted, even as there is huge sweet potato cultivation underway.

He said that the region prides itself with commodities such as avocado, cocoa, ginger, lemongrass, cassava among others, but has been exempted from the “national cake."

He has urged the government to make the Volta Region the next focus in the 1D1F initiative.

He stressed that the Volta Region equally has potentials like the Central, Eastern among other regions.

Mr Agbenyega further urged the government to provide credit support for the private sector through the Exim Bank Ghana or direct credit from the government through the Ministry of Finance for the construction of these factories in the region.

This, he said, would create massive jobs for the youths and the out-growers in the region.

He expressed the need for the government to provide subsidy for products or produce under the 1D1F program so they become more competitive on both the local and international market.

He also called on the government to do the needful by constructing road networks in the districts which would lead to these factories.

Some 18 factories have been accredited so far under the 1D1F and an additional 50 are expected to be accredited.

The government has indicated that there will be a pineapple processing factory in the Ekumfi District, a pineapple and orange processing factory in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) municipality, a cassava starch processing factory in the Fanteakwa District.

There would also be a cashew processing factory in Tema, a fruit processing factory in the West Akim District, a shea butter processing factory in the Accra metropolis, an avocado processing factory in Ningo-Prampram and the cultivation and processing of sweet potato into bread, chips and biscuit in Gomoa West.

In the manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceuticals, three factories have been marked for the Nsawam-Adoagyiri municipality, the Accra Metropolis and the Suhum District.

There will also be an agricultural inputs manufacturing plant in the Tema metropolis, garment factory in Accra and a tile and brick production factory at Tanoso in the Brong Ahafo Region.