Ghana: Govt to Employ PPP to Revamp Accra - Nsawam Railway Line

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press release

By Gilbert Ankrah

Minister for Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, has disclosed that government will by the end of 2015 partner a private sector investor for the execution of the Boankra Inland Port and Eastern Railway line Project.

This, according to her, is 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 land-locked countries.

Mrs Attivor made this known today, 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, Messrs PWC was procured as Transaction Advisors (TA) 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.

According to her, "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," she added.

Mrs Attivor said the rail sector was a major driving force for the accelerated development of the country, and for that reason, the revitalisation and rehabilitation of the rail lines remained a priority of the transport sector development agenda.

In another development, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr Ekow Spio -Garbrah and the Attorney -General and Minister for Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, where in the House to answer questions on steps taken to enforce the ban on export for scrap metals and plans to upgrade the professional, academic and hierarchical status of career magistrates respectively.

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