Miners have besieged the land reserved for oil plantation and processing factory in Obuasi under the District One Factory (1D1F) Initiative.
They have destroyed more than half of the 1,000 acres of the reserved land despite the 300 acres of palm that have been planted.
In the middle of last year, 2020, Ohene Adu Aboagye, Chief Executive Officer of LEAPAB, the Adansi Traditional Council led by its President, Nana Opagyakotwere Bonsra Afriyie, and the government (Obuasi Municipal Assembly) came into agreement to establish a 1,000-acre oil palm plantation and processing factory in the Obuasi municipality under President Akufo-Addo’s 1D1F initiative.
The initiative aimed at transforming the economy of the country through industrialization also offers the people of Obuasi employment opportunities in a bid to diversify the local economy.
However, the story today is completely different, the initiative has been taken over by galamsey as half of the fertile land has been completely washed away by the illegal miners believed to be Chinese.
Some residents of Adaase, a community in the Obuasi Municipal where the Oil Plantation and Processing Factory is located in the course of expressing their disappointment alleged that, the Municipal Chief Executive of Obuasi, Mr Elijah Adansi-Bonah is behind the destruction of the reserved land for the Oil Plantation and Processing Factory.
Chief (Odikro) of Adaase, Nana Kwadwo Asamoah, in an interview with the press confirmed that the Obuasi, MCE Mr Elijah Adansi Bona deployed the miners to the site last year.
“Adanse Bona came to the community last year that he was going to use the land for community mining, 3 days later the miners had taken over.”
The foreman for the project, Agya Boadi on the other hand revealed that the miners have destroyed almost half of the reserved land despite the 300 acres of palm that have been cultivated for the factory.
