The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has said government’s One District One Factory initiative has so far created 150,975 jobs since its inception in 2017.

The 1D1F program is a private sector-led initiative that seeks to create the necessary conducive environment for businesses to access funding from financial institutions and other support services from government agencies, to establish factories and production units in the various districts in the country.

While giving updates on the programme on the floor of Parliament this week, Alan Kyerematen also noted that so far, 278 factories are at various stages of implementation.

“Since the beginning of the programme till date, there are 278 1D1F projects which are at various stages of implementation. Out of this number, 104 companies are currently in operation, 150 are under construction and 24 are at the mobilization stage. 165 out of the 278 companies are new projects, representing 60%, whilst 113 companies are existing projects that are being supported, representing 40%.”

The policy seeks to change the structure of Ghana’s economy from one which is dependent on import and export of raw material to one which is focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods by processing raw materials found largely in the 275 districts of the country into finished or semi-finished goods.

The Trade Minister also noted that when all factories are completed, over 280,000 jobs will be created in total.

“The companies that are currently operational have created a total number of 150,975 direct and indirect jobs. When the additional 150 companies under construction are completed, the cumulative number of direct and indirect jobs that would be created will amount to 282,792.”