Parliament yesterday approved request by the government for tax waivers to four companies under the One District One Factory initiative. 

The package included import duties, import Value Added Tax, Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) levy, Import National Health Insurance Levy and Export and Import (EXIM) levy. 

The companies are Camelot Ghana Limited (US$347,174), Favour 01 Limited (US$131,988), Gee’s Fresh Point Limited (GHC48, 369) and LK International Company Ghana Limited (US$2,284,831). 

Areas of the economy where the companies are expected to operate include production of non-alcoholic beverages, tricycle assembling, security printing and processing and packaging of birds. 

The request for waiver laid in the House on May 26, 2020, was in accordance with Article 174(2) of the Constitution. 

Presenting the Finance Committee’s report on the waiver, Chairman, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah said the move was in line with government’s efforts to industrilise the country. 

The report, a copy of which the Ghanaian Times has said in part that “considering the benefits to be derived from the projects, the Committee is of the view that the requests will go a long way to boost government’s flagship 1D1F programme.”

According to the report, some of the benefits of the projects would include increased employment, reduction in post harvest losses of fruits by providing alternative market, increased export earnings and increased fruit production in the country.  

The report said Camelot Ghana Limited’s main business was the printing of security documents and continuous forms.

“The company offers the printing of cheque books, bankers’ drafts, share certificates, dividend warrants and certificates, lottery tickets of various types and continuous and cut sheet stationery, preprints for laser printers, electoral ballot papers-standard and special size and many more,” it said. 

Located in Tamale, LK International Company Limited assembles tricycles and other related products for distribution on the local market and countries in the ECOWAS sub region such as Burkina Faso, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Mali. 

Favour 01 Limited, the report said is a limited liability company under the Companies Code of Ghana, 1963 (Act 179) and is located at Ayikuma in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region. 

Gee’s Fresh Point Limited, the Committee reported is a gender sensitive organisation working with NGOs like WUSC, FARM RADIO, and GIZ towards empowering women through capacity building programmes and creating ready markets for women poultry farmers.

A member of the Committee, Benjamin Kpodo, urged that government to track the intended mission of the firms to ensure that they lived up to the billing.

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI