GOVERNMENT HAS secured a €500m credit facility for the construction of the Takoradi Port to Huni Valley Railway Line as part of the Western Railway Line Development Project.
About 200 million dollars is also being utilised on the section of Western Line from Kojokrom to Manso through government’s internal resources.
Additionally, a 6km railway line is currently under construction as part of the Western Railway Line Development Project from Adum to Kaase by Messrs David Walter Limited; it is valued at about US$48m and funded by the Government of Ghana through the Consolidated Fund.
Desmond Boateng, the Chief Director of Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA), disclosed these on behalf of the Minister for Railway Development, John- Peter Amewu, at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on the Railway Master Plan held in Kumasi last Thursday.
The railway master plan is a layout for the development of the railway sector in the country. The first version was delivered in 2013 and has since been reviewed into the current 2020 version.
The master plan serves as a guide to the country in constructing its rail network with the aim to linking every capital city of the 16 regions and all industrial towns and hubs by the year 2035, to serve as an efficient mode of transport for the movement of goods such as bauxite, manganese, cocoa and to the various ports and processing hubs as well as transporting passengers to various cities in the country.
He disclosed that the ministry recently negotiated a contract with AFCONS Infrastructure Limited of India for the construction of a 50km standard gauge line from Obuasi to Eduadin, also in the Ashanti Region.
“Having already obtained parliamentary approval for the implementation of this project, the remaining financing arrangements are at the final stages before the actual commencement of the construction works,” he added.
According to the minister, the outstanding sections of the Western Line from Obuasi to Dunkwa, Dunkwa to Awaso including the extension from Awaso to Nyinahini, will be undertaken by government after securing the needed financial resources.
Government, he stated, was also utilising about US$447m on the development of the Tema to Mpakadan standard gauge railway project which is currently about 98% complete and being executed by Messrs AFCONS Infrastructure Limited through an India EXIM Bank credit facility.
“US$265m contract has been signed by Government with Messrs KEC International Limited of India for the construction of a new standard gauge line from Accra to Nsawam through Adjin-Kotoku as part of the Eastern Railway Line redevelopment project.
“This project will mark the beginning of the new Eastern Line from Accra/Tema through the Boankra Inland Port to Kumasi,” Mr. Amewu disclosed.
He stressed that the construction of railways and associated infrastructure is capital intensive unlike road transport.
The ministry, he explained, planned to employ sustainable private financing schemes to bridge the huge financing gap.
Yaw Owusu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRDA, on his part, expressed worry over the high rate of theft and encroachment on the Railway Line, and appealed to the citizenry to be on the lookout for the arrest and prosecution of culprits.
He commended the President Akufo-Addo-led government for embarking on huge capital intensive railway project.
Nana Fi Baamoah II, the Asokwahene, who was the special guest of honour, stated that Ghana needed to strategically invest in the railway infrastructure to become the transportation hub in West Africa.
This kind of investment, he explained, should be done with the railway master plan so that resources are spent in the most sufficient ways.
The objective of reviewing the 2013 Master Plan, he reechoed, was to extend the railway network to newly created regional capitals and as well connect mineral deposits to the Port of Tema, Takoradi and Keta.
FROM David Afum, Kumasi