Price water House Coopers Ghana (PwC), the transactional advisors for the redevelopment of Boankra Inland Port project in Kumasi will today present its final report to Government and key stakeholders.
The document will serve as the basis to enable Government select a strategic consortium to begin construction of the project.
The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah during the recent townhall meeting held in Kumasi organized by the Ministries of Information and Monitoring and Evaluation stated that in less than two weeks, Government is expected to announce the chosen contractor for the project.
The submission of the final report follows the completion of the procurement process of the project which was earlier presented to Government for assessments.
Since all inland ports need to be served by an efficient and effective railway system, the western railway line, currently undergoing rehabilitation, which now ends in Tarkwa in the Western Region is expected to be extended to Prestea-Huni Valley, Dunkwa, Obuasi and Boakra, and is ultimately expected to join the planned central spine railway line in the country which will go all the way to Burkina Faso.
This key infrastructure will link the ports of Tema and Takoradi to the hinterlands of the country and its landlocked northern neighbour countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The project is expected to be a free port that would combine unimodal and inter-modal operations aimed at easing congestion at Ghana’s seaports which would in turn facilitate the transit trade of Ghana’s land-locked neighbours.
When completed, Ghana would largely derive enormous benefits from its establishment which include increased export of produce such as cola nuts, shea-butter, cocoa and cocoa products, wood; promotion of the establishment of export processing zones in the vicinity of the inland port; enhancing of the operational efficiency of both the Tema and Takoradi ports through decongestion; and reduction in generalized transport cost of international cargo to importers and exporters from the middle and northern parts of Ghana, including the Sahel sub-region among others.
Background
In October 2019, the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) in partnership with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) assisted by the Ministry of Transport began the process of selecting a strategic investor to partner in the development of the project.
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