Transport Minister Mrs Dzifa Attivor has disclosed that government will by the end of 2015 partner a private sector investor to deliver the Boankra Inland Port and Eastern Railway line Project.
She added that this would provide a faster, safer and a more efficient integrated transport and logistics system for the movement of freight from the Tema port to the northern part of the country as well as other bordering land-locked countries.
Mrs Attivor made this known Tuesday, on the floor of Parliament when she appeared before the House to respond to a question posed by NPP MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, on plans towards revamping the Accra -Nsawam Railway line.
She informed the legislators that the “project which was put together in collaboration with the Public Investment Division (PID) of the Ministry of Finance involves the reconstruction of the existing dilapidated and defunct 330km stretch of a narrow gauge rail line to a standard gauge and the development of a 400-acre plot of land at Boankra, 27 kilometres from Kumasi into an inland port.”
He announced that in line with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) guidelines and with funding from the World Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers was procured as Transaction Advisors to advice on the PPP option and, “it is expected that by the end of 2015 a private sector investor would be procured to partner government for the execution of the project.”
Mrs Attivor noted that as part of efforts to continue with the provision of safe commuter rail services on the Accra-Nsawam line, the Ghana Railway Company Limited has been undertaking sleeper renewals where bad wooden sleepers are being replaced with steel sleepers.
She added that the ministry has applied for funds under the ABFA to enable the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) to undertake remedial works on the line pending the implementation of the project.
Mrs Attivor said the rail sector was a major driving force for the accelerated development of the country, and therefore the revitalisation and rehabilitation of the rail lines remained a priority of the transport sector development agenda.
Credit: Government of Ghana
