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Government has appointed an independent consultant to review the operations of Pwalugu Tomato Factory and Juapong Textile Limited (JTL), Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, has said. According to her, the government has tasked the consultant to evaluate the operations of these companies to identify problems affecting the efficiency of their businesses. Both Pwalugu and JTL were revived by the previous government after they had gone through difficulties, leading to operations far below their capacities. A largely state-owned firm, Pwalugu Tomato Factory, which is near Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, was reactivated some two years ago in collaboration with Trusty Foods Company Limited, an Italian company based in Tema, while JTL, also an SOE, restarted operations in 2007 after it had remained shut for years. But they had struggled since their reactivation and Ms. Tetteh told some financial journalists last week that government was keen on reviving the operations of these firms as enshrined in the manifesto of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of �creating jobs for the people�. She explained that for instance, the consultant will examine whether it was good for JTL to still operate in their old line of producing gray baft for textile production or not. She however did not rule out a public-private partnership which she believed could turn things around and thereby help them become viable. �All over the world public private partnerships are being encouraged as it has the impetus of making business more competitive,� said Ms. Tetteh. With regard to the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), the Minister of Trade opined that her outfit has contracted accounting and management professionals, Ernst and Young, with a view to strengthening and making it practicable. �We are presently with the World Bank to get some funds allocated for the Medium Scale and Micro Enterprises (MSME) project to support the NBSSI�s.� On tariffs, the minister said government was not in the mood to impose tariffs on imported products such as poultry. She explained that �what we will do is to improve the general business environment to make local products competitive�.