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Dr Ephraim Avea Nsoh, Upper East Regional Minister, on Tuesday expressed disappointment at the manner in which factories in the Upper East Region were left to deteriorate. The Regional Minister said, the factories, if made operational again, would provide employment for the teeming unemployed youth in the region. The Minister made the observation when he inspected the Northern Star Tomato Factory at Pwalugu, the Ghana Rice Production Company at Zuarungu, the GIHOC Meat Product Company Limited at Dulugu and the Catering Rest House in Bolgatanga. At the Northern Star Tomato Factory, the factory was deserted, as there was no official at the time of the Minister�s visit. A security man who appeared minutes later, indicated that there has not been any production this year. It would be recalled that late last year the Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, announced a one-million-Ghana-Cedi funding to revamp the tomato factory at Pwalugu in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region with rehabilitation works expected to begin by the first quarter of 2014. This, he said would ensure the revitalization and operation of the factory because it was a viable entity with the ability to create jobs and sustain the tomato supply chain industry. The factory which had a daily production capacity of 500 tons and about 12,500 crates of tomatoes per day, has suffered low or no production due to the unavailability of raw materials, and broken down equipment. A seven-member Interim Management Board was inaugurated to oversee the activities of the factory to further open it up to public-private partnership as a management module to keep it viable. It is the second quarter of the year and farmers have started harvesting their tomatoes. However, the factory is still not functioning with some major equipment left at the mercy of the weather. At the Rice Mills, the structures were all dilapidated and some squatters had taken over the area with drug peddlers and users using the structures as safe haven to smoke Indian hemp. The Minister locked up a Ware House for the Rice Mills because the occupant was using the facility illegally. It was being operated and managed by a private business man for the storage of agro chemicals and other goods. The fence for the Rice Mills had been broken down, enabling encroachers to take over government lands. At the GIHOC Meat Product Company Limited in Dulugu, Mr Adongo Martin, a technician who has been working at the Factory for over two decades, said the factory which started large production in 1965 with over thousand canned beef produced a day, had its last production in 1995. He said raw material for production was from neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali and other neighbouring countries. He said it was feasible to bring back the factory if new machines were acquired to replace the old ones. The Upper East Regional Minster who ended his visits at the Catering Rest House expressed worry at the manner facilities there has been poorly managed. He said rehabilitation of the factories involved huge investments and a Regional Business Investment Committee would be instituted under a Regional Development Strategy to immediately deal with how to manage them until such a time that private investors come in or Central Government takes full control over them. On the illegal encroachment around the Rice Mills, the Regional Minister said in the interim, he would hold talks with the Town and Country Planning and other stakeholders to know if those lands were legally acquired.