AYENSU STARCH IN LIMBO

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Ayensu Starch Factory is making frantic efforts to beat ultimatum given by the Awutu-Senya West District Security Council (DISEC) to cease operation until further notice.

The assembly gave the order for the factory to shut down because its activities were polluting water bodies of the area particularly, River Ako, and other related environmental hazards to communities in the area.

District Chief Executive of the area who is the head of DISEC, Sampson Abbey Armah confirmed to DAILY GUIDE that the assembly had indeed asked the factory to shut down until the proper thing was done.

“I was informed they have forwarded the order that they should shut down to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. I understand they are expecting some funds to control the inflows,” he said.

He said the factory manager had subsequently written to the assembly for their request to the ministry to be considered.

Mr. Armah said once the factory had written to the ministry, the assembly would await a response before carrying out the order.

“In fact when we visited the place, there was a pile of cassava on the factory floor and therefore, we are expecting that by the end of the processing, they would wait for the necessary maintenance before resuming work,” he stressed.

The assembly had issued the order following persistent complaints from farmers and residents near the factory that the environment was being polluted indiscriminately as a result of the activities of the cassava factory.

They claimed that the factory’s seepage had a poisonous chemical that flowed into their sources of drinking water.

Established in 2003 under then President’s Special Initiative, the Ayensu Cassava Starch Factory commenced business in 2004 with the capacity to produce 22,000 tonnes of grade starch for both domestic and external markets.

It was shut down in 2006 for due to indiscriminate pollution but bounced back in 2011 after the management said they had taken all precautionary environmental measures to operate without pollution.

The factory is reportedly executing a sales agreement between them and Guinness Ghana Limited to supply 4,000 tonnes of food grade starch for the production of alcoholic beverage ‘Ruut Extra’.