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The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has expressed displeasure at the undue delay in the implementation of the Boankrah Inland Port Project, in spite of the fact that all the initial bottlenecks in the acquisition of the land have been removed. The King is also not happy with the continued closure of the GIHOC shoe and jute factories in Kumasi, which had been divested and not operational for many years now. He noted that these projects could create the much needed employment for Ghanaian youth, while facilitating transit trade to Ghana�s land-locked sister countries of Burkina Faso and Mali in the spirit of Intra-Africa Co-operation, as affirmed in the new partnership for Africa�s NEPAD initiative. In a statement read on his behalf by nana Adomako-Ansa, Ankaasehene and Krontihene of Amoafo Paramountcy during the sixth Ashanti Business Excellence Awards I Kumasi on Wednesday night, Otumfuor Osei Tutu lamented that as a historic leading Cocoa producing region in Ghana, it was unfortunate that Ashanti Region, could not boast of any Cocoa processing plant to add value to the Cocoa produced in the region. He appealed to the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry to speed up the implementation of the Boankra inland Port Project. The Asantehene indicated that the Suame Magazine industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) and the proposed Cocoa processing factory to be constructed by the Ghana Cocoa Board in Kumasi, and the divestiture of the GIHOC Show and the Jute Factories are major concerns to Asanteman. He urged financial institutions to accept the challenge and to devise innovative strategies to mobilise funds internally, to support Ghana�s business sector and minimize the adverse effects of the global recession on Ghana�s economy.