By- Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura

The Head of ESG and EHS of ARISE Industrial Integrated Platform, Mr. Frank Owusu Ansah during the Afreximbank Sierra Leone two days Trade Road Show held at the Freetown City Council hall has announced that ARISE Industrial Integrated Platform will launch phase one of their project in July 2023 with an investment plan of $150 million in a 1600 hectares of land at Koya in Port Loko.

Giving his presentation on the Expose on the Sierra Leone’s Special Industrial Zone, Mr. Frank Owusu Ansah disclosed that ARISE IIP has successfully gone through the process with the assent of President Julius Maada Bio, adding that the contract was signed on 23rd April, 2023. He furthered that the project is a joint venture between the Government of Sierra Leone and ARISE IIP and the former being the technical partner in charge of planning, promotion, development and exploitation of the special industrial zone.

According to Mr. Ansah, ARISE began its operation in Gabon in 2010 and has spread its wings to Togo and Benin by creating amazing jobs and creating the national platform for both local and international investors. He said ARISE is aiming to foster Africa’s industrialization by attracting processors and is financed by an African bank.

He noted that ARISE is a Pan African industrial developer and their vision is to turn Africa a new green industrial hub and their key focus is industrialization with an objective to create over one million jobs.