Kobina Tahiru Hammond, the Minister of Trade and Industry, has addressed payment concerns surrounding the lease of the Komenda Sugar Factory to West Africa Agro Limited, an Indian-based firm.
According to him, Ghana will not pay the company but rather receive a yearly rent payment of over one million dollars.
K. T. Hammond’s clarification comes after the Ranking Member on the Trade and Industry Committee, Yusif Sulemana, expressed concerns that Parliament was not informed of the decision and alleged that the company would be paid $50,000 monthly for management services.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, the Trade Minister dismissed the claim, stating that the company will pay Ghana a yearly rent, which is currently set at over one million dollars.
He explained that this payment will be made annually for the duration of the lease, which can be extended if the company chooses to do so.
“So at the commencement of the agreement to let them lease it, they would be paying us a yearly rent. The company will be paying us, I’ve said that it is over a million dollars. I’ve agreed on a figure which is, for now, a little more than one million dollars a year.”
“They will pay us for the year that they’ll be leasing it. At the end of it, if they are still interested, they could extend the period that they leased and keep on paying us the year’s rent until they give it back to us.”
Source: citinews.com