Appolonia bids for special economic zone status for 200-acre industrial park

Appolonia City, a real estate developer, says talks are far advanced with the government towards obtaining legal designation of its 200-acre industrial park as a special economic zone.

The industrial park, located near Appolonia’s residential development between Oyibi and Afienya in Greater Accra, hosts businesses in logistics, warehousing, light manufacturing, and research and development. It features over 1.8 million square feet of serviced land on the 200-acre site.

“We are in discussions with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to designate Appolonia industrial park as a special economic zone. What that comes with are tax incentives, as is the case across the world,” Adamu Ben-Mahmoud Jnr., Appolonia’s Utilities and Urban Infrastructure Manager, told Business24 in an interview during a tour of the facility by officials of the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC).

“Those discussions are progressing, and there is a clear commitment from government to do so. It is the legal framework that has to be finalised, and we are sure when that is done, we will be ready to take off.”

A special economic zone (SEZ), such as Ghana’s free zone enclave, is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country’s national borders, and their aims include increased investment, employment, increased exports, and job creation.

Mr. Ben-Mahmoud said the industrial park is scalable to a size of 400 acres, depending on demand.

Companies that are currently developing facilities in the park include MainOne, Nickseth Construction, Alusynco, Crownhouse Construction & Logistics, PUMA Energy, and Total Ghana.

The Executive Director of the UKGCC, Adjoba Kyiamah, said one of the goals of the chamber is to have their member companies interact with each other to enhance business relations.

She also stated that the tour was to showcase Appolonia’s facility to international member companies of the chamber seeking to do business in the country.

“Coming here to see that there has been development, buildings, people living here, and setting up of the industrial park is very refreshing. For our member businesses that are coming into Ghana and are looking for a location to site their businesses, this is ideal.”