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We're not building 1 district, 1 factory but... - Dep. Minister

Robert Ahomka Lindsay, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry has said the government is not building factories under the 'One District One Factory' (1D1F) programme but supporting the private sector.

One District One Factory

According to him, the private entities will take the lead in setting up the factories.

He said "None of these companies is fully owned by the government. They are owned by the private sector. In fact, the President was very clear that it was going to be led by the private sector. Early on, in the journey, a number of people thought that the government was going to build these factories and create more [white] elephants. Government is not very good at managing businesses. It is led by the private sector and government facilities. We are not going to manage the projects as GoG; No!"

Speaking on Citi TV, Ahomka Lindsay said the government is in discussion with private companies to set up factories and how it [government] can support them to create jobs in the country adding that the government is creating the right environment for the private sector.

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"The first thing government did, was to sit with the private sector, PERF, AGI Chamber and tell them please come and let’s talk about what is possible. We helped to get that message through and created district implementation support team. No factory is going to be built at Jubilee House, the President is not going to give you building permit neither is he going to give you a fire certificate. If it has to be done, it has to be at the district level. The team on the ground focused and checked that they support this business," he added.

The government is currently facilitating the establishment of 181 enterprise projects in 110 Districts, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies across the 16 regions of the country. 

Out of this number, 79 projects of these projects are at various stages of operation. 

It is expected that the remaining 102 companies will commence work before the end of the year.

Ahomka Lindsay said "Right now, we have to provide the impetus for industries to do the job. Three other interventions have been introduced by government. One of the most difficult aspects of business is the cost of capital. It is very expensive. There are wonderful things we have done in the reduction of the interest rate.

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"So one of the key intervention government has done, is to subsidize the interest rate for these businesses so that they end up paying just 10 percent of interest rate to the bank. This is a direct intervention to support them and not us running the business."

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