Suame Magazine Industrial Park project gets committee

A nine-member committee has been inaugurated to oversee the project of transforming the Suame Magazine in Kumasi into a globally-competitive industrial complex in automobile engineering.

The Suame Magazine Industrial Park will re-settle the local artisans who are currently faced with the difficulty of coping with the new technology in vehicular repairs and securing a permanent industrial space for their operations.

The committee has a mandate to secure the necessary documentation on a thousand acre land at Kodie-Adubinsu-Kese in the Afigya-Kwabre District earmarked for the project.

This should be achieved by end of June for the project to attract a multi-donor partnership support, spearheaded by the Danish International Development Cooperation (DANIDA).

According to Lars Joker, DANIDA Team Leader for Business and Green Growth, the Danish interventions at the Suame Magazine will focus on training, technology transfer, especially auto-diagnostics, and better working environment for the artisans.

“If you look at Suame Magazine today, it's very crowded, working conditions are not too good; it can be unsafe – fire and environmental problems. What we are looking at is can we support Suame Magazine in that relocation, can we support them in developing better facilities for the companies out there so they can grow,” he noted.

The quest of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO) is to enlist all stakeholders to support the project.

Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, Consultant to SMIDO and the industrial complex project, is confident the inaugurated committee is a boost to meeting the demands of DANIDA.

The project committee is chaired by the District Chief Executive Officer of the Afigya-Kwabre, Kaakyire Oppong-Kyekyeku under whose jurisdiction the earmarked land for the industrial complex project is located.

Other members include Mrs. Emelia Botchway, District Coordinating Director, Isaac Owusu Mensah, District Planning Officer and Mr. Eric Yaw Owusu, District Engineer.

The rest are Clement Sarpong, Chairman of SMIDO Land Committee, Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, Consultant to SMIDO, Mark Williams, a representative of the Danish Embassy, Palma Afesi, from the United Pension Trustee, corporate Managers of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development (SMID) Fund and Nana Owusu Apeasa II, Chief of Adubinsu-Kese, custodian of the project land.

Ashanti Regional Deputy Minister, Samuel Adusei, inaugurating the committee on behalf of the Regional Minster, commended SMIDO for demonstrating rare perseverance and leadership in the pursuit of the project.

“The whole world is expecting something good comes out of Suame Magazine which is the hub of vehicle repairs and sales of parts and host of artisanal works in West African sub-region. The dream of Ghanaians is that Suame Magazine and the mix of artisans with the skills to handle all types of vehicles should be in a position to come out with its own make of cares to contribute to Ghana's industrialization effort”.

The Suame artisans last year unveiled the “SMATI Turtle 1” prototype vehicle, locally built in partnership with an NGO from the Netherlands.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh