Lt Col Darkwah (middle), the Tema Port Security Manager, leading the fact-finding team to inspect the facility at Anyanui
The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has halted the construction of some supposedly illegal mini ports and jetties along the country’s coast by some private companies.
One of such developers, LIB Limited, was putting up a facility at Tema expected to receive Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) imports for onward distribution and sale to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
Also, a fishing company, Omanye Oceans Fisheries Limited, is said to be constructing a boat yard along the shores of the Volta River at Anyanui in the Volta Region, while cement manufacturer, Diamond Cement Limited, is also reported to be developing a jetty at Keta in the same region to receive clinker imports for the production of cement at its factory in Aflao.
Acting Director-General of the GPHA, Paul Ansah Asare, who disclosed these to Citi Fm on Tuesday, said his outfit would take action against the organisations in question because their actions breached the PNDC Law 160 of 1986, which made GPHA the sole state entity authorized to plan, build, develop, manage, operate and control port facilities.
He added that such activities also posed security threats to the country.
Giving further insight into Omanye’s supposed port, Mr. Asare said when his team visited the site last Friday, there were a lot of vessels and a lot of Chinese nationals over there, a clear indication that some port facility had been developed there without recourse to the due process of law.”
He said there was another place close to Tema where the people had developed about 600 meters of a jetty into the sea. And there were indications that somewhere around Keta as well, Diamond Cement was preparing to develop a similar facility, all of which were illegally.
Mr. Asare noted that the framers of the PNDC Law 160 of 1986 “took cognizance of the seriousness of operating ports, adding that the law gave such prerogative to the President through an Executive Instrument, not even through the approval of somebody at the presidency.
“But an Executive Instrument must be issued by the president to declare an enclave as a port. So it’s not a very simple thing to say that you have received a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency or the Metropolitan Assembly or Ghana Maritime Authority, so you are in for a port just as you cannot go for a land somewhere and say you are developing an international airport so you cannot do that for a port.”
When asked why GPHA had not clamped down on such operations in the past, the acting Director General said the said although the companies contacted GPHA with regards to such projects, they did not receive licences that would allow them to operate.