President Akufo-Addo has justified the delay in the operationalisation of the Komenda Sugar Factory.

According to him, the detailed processes that need to be followed for the realization of the facility’s full potential is critical, and requires government to be meticulous in its approach towards it.

"We needed to make sure that the planning of the factory... I'm talking about the whole process beginning from the raw material import to the process itself being done in a manner which will guarantee the viability of the factory," he said.

He made these comments on ATL FM in Cape Coast as part of his tour of the Central Region.

In June this year, Trade Minister Alan Kyeremanteng revealed that a strategic investor, Park Agrotech Ghana Limited had been approved by Cabinet to help revive the factory.

He disclosed that over the first three years of the agreement, Park Agrotech was to invest an amount of $28 million in capital expenditure and working capital including paying an annual concession fee of $3.3 million for a period of 15 years.

Speaking on the delay of the project, the President clarified that the factory had not been abandoned and remains in the plans of the NPP administration's industrialisation drive.

"There was the need for us to look at the project and make sure that the processes were there that would enable operationalisation," President Akufo-Addo explained.

The Komenda Sugar Factory, which was built at a cost of $35 million from an Indian EXIM Bank facility, was inaugurated by then-President John Mahama in May 2016, amid pomp and pageantry but was closed down after a few test runs.