VOLTA STAR TEXTILES SEEKS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT , AS COMPANY NEARS COLLAPSING

Management of the Volta Star Textiles Comapny, formerly Juapong Textiles Factory, one the of country post independence state resources, is calling on government to as a matter of urgency intervened and inject fresh capital to support the company to save it from the verged of collapsing.

The need for  the financial capital support, according to management  stems from a multiplicity of factors including the need to replace obsolete equipment, the capacity to purchase raw materials, inputs and spare parts  as well as experience labour forces  in order to get the factory to optimize its full capacity to meet the needed output and to also become competitive.

 The Acting Technical Director of the company, Mr. Evans Agyagbo, disclosed this to the media during a fact finding tour of the company by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region, Hon. Sameul Okudzeto Ablakwa, on Monday this week.

With installed capacity of producing 64,000 yards of gray baft a day on a 24-hour production cycle, the Volta Star Textiles is currently running a single production cycles and  produces 7,00-25,000- yards of gray baft  a day  on 24 hour.

Mr. Agyagbo  said for the  company  to survived and function fully to its glorious capacity production of textiles, it needed capital injection of GH¢6 million to enable it purchase raw materials for its operations, cater for maintenance of its mostly obsolete machines, buy chemical and pay workers.

“As at now, we need at least GHC6 million from government or any other sources to support  us, so we could  be able to ran the factory on commercial basis because lack of funds renders us ineffective and inefficient operations that lead to losses,” he stated.

The Acting Technical Director further told the MP and his entourages that, the government of Ghana (GOG), which solely owns the company, in 2007 approved GH¢3 million for its operation, but only GH¢2 million out of that money was disbursed before the 2008 elections, adding that the remaining fund which was later released to the company met with high exchange rate therefore rendered the meager working capital a non-starter and inadequate to effect any significant turnaround in the company.

Mr. Agyagbo stated that for the company to progress, serious production bottlenecks had to be removed in the short term to sustain the operations.

He said the company needs obsolete replacement of some of its equipments, including energy efficient equipment to improve the company’s energy factor, a reliable fleet of transport which is currently left with one Pick Up, and the wherewithal to purchase the raw materials and other inputs.

He therefore appealed to the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the MP for the area to as a matter of national interest inject fresh working capital to save the company from collapsing.

Hon. Samuel Okudzeto  Ablakwa, on his part promised to liaise with the government through the ministry of Trade and Industry and other relevant stakeholders for funds to resource the company to meet its needed production capacity.

According to him, the company has high potential of jobs creation for the people in the are and the nation as a whole, adding that when the company was working on its fully capacity in about 45 years ago, many people from all the country were employed and that he would work as an MP for it to be revamped to its past glory.

“when this company was fully operational in 45-50 years ago, many people from all walks of live were employed, people from the local community, other parts of the country and neigbouring West Africa countries were all employed, and I strongly believed that this is a national assets and we should  not allow it to collapsed,” he stated.

Mr. Ablakwa noted that, the NDC government in which he is a member believed in job creation for the people and that  was why when the president, John Dramani Mahama was delivery his state of the Nation Address to parliament last week, he reiterated his determination to resources and revamp all state industries  to provide employments opportunity for the youth.

 He however assured the management and staff of the company of his fully support to seek funds to enable it fully operate to it production capacity

Mr. Ablakwa later toured the company facility to acquaint himself of the fate of the biggest spinning and weaving textiles factory in the country.

The Juapong Textiles Factory, now Volta Star Textiles Company was established in the 1960s to supply plain cloth (gray baft) to other textiles companies in the country as part of an integrated textiles industry, which used to be huge in the country.
With installed capacity of producing 64,000 yards of gray baft a day on a 24-hour production cycle, the Volta Star Textiles Company which was incorporated in May 2007 to take over the assets of the former Juapong Textiles, after a revamping exercise, currently runs a single production cycles and churns out only 7,000-25,000 yards a day.
At full production blast, Volta Star Textiles could employ about 2,000 but it now can only absorb an average of 321 persons, a situation that has left the once vibrant Juapong Township bereft of its citizens.

During the tour with the media to the factory revealed that a large number of the spinning and weaving equipment of the company were lying idle, as only 27 out of the 86 spinning machines were working.

Equally, at the extraction hall where the yarns combined to produce cloth, only 300 out of 900 machines are operational, as idleness and lack of parts to repair broken-down machines have caught up with the rest..

With the requisite capacity to meet the needs of the local textile industry, the acting technical director, who is also a textiles engineer said the company could be viable and compete favourably with gray baft from every part of the world.