Happy Sunshine Company Limited, a tomato paste manufacturing firm, is embarking on several activities to address some environmental concerns raised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Happy Sunshine, which operates at Kutunse in the Ga West Municipality, was directed by the EPA to halt operations due to some environmental concerns.
The EPA asked the company to embark on some facelift projects and also engage the community to secure their consent and support before any production commences.
As part of efforts to integrate the community into its operations, Happy Sunshine organized a community durbar in accordance with EPA directives.
The durbar was attended by the Chief of Kuntunse and his elders, opinion leaders, the clergy, representatives of the security services as well as residents of Kuntunse.
Mars Du, Managing Director of Happy Sunshine, affirmed his company’s commitment to investing in Ghana and the readiness of Happy Sunshine to support the government in its efforts to bridge the unemployment gap.
“it is also the vision of Happy Sunshine to boost the industrialization drive of Ghana and support the government’s one-district-one factory policy. This, is evident in the establishment of a high-tech ultra-modern manufacturing plant to produce highly nutritious and tasty tomato paste for the Ghanaian market by Happy Sunshine Company limited,” he said.
The chief of Kuntunse, Nii Noi Nortey, used the occasion to plead with the government and the EPA to as a matter of urgency allow the company to resume operations since Happy Sunshine has worked on all the environmental concerns raised.
Nii Noi Nartey was of the view that, many of his young people who were employed by the company have since the closure been unemployed and this is creating so much economic hardship for his people.
In a bid to meet the requirements of the EPA before final approval, Happy Sunshine has embarked on a number of reforms including refitting of the factory’s chimneys by increasing its length as required by the EPA to prevent any direct emissions into the community.
The company has also constructed a water waste management facility to properly manage liquid waste emanating from the operations of the factory.
Additionally, upon the directive of the EPA, the company has acquired a tract of land directly opposite the factory to serve as customer parking space. The environmental improvement projects embarked upon by the company also include the covering of drainage facilities, and increasing the factory’s wall to keep within bounds any noise generated by the factory.
Residents of Kuntunse have expressed happiness with the company’s reforms and are further assured of their safety. This was evident in the show of overwhelming endorsement by members of the community for the factory to be sited in the Kuntunse community.
The company has since satisfied all statutory requirements to regularize their operations including receiving approval from the Food and Drugs Authority, The Ghana Standards Authority, The registrar General’s department among many others.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com