Government, has secured a commitment from Korea’s Eximbank to finance the installation of the infrastructure required to revamp the Volta Lake as a means of transport of people and cargo, as well as a destination for recreation. The amount committed is still unknown and indeed may not yet have even been arrived at since a feasibility study to determine the infrastructural needs is still underway.
The Volta Lake is used by some two million people. But use of the lake for transport has faced challenges due to the poor state of infrastructure such as landing sites and passenger reception facilities.
A feasibility Study funded by the World Bank has just commenced to enable government realize the full potential of the Volta Lake within the framework of an integrated multimodal transport system. Instructively it is being executed by Vision Consult, a Ghanaian firm who mare displaying the deep technical capacity of indigenous engineers. The feasibility study, will, among other things, identify precisely what infrastructure needs to be acquired and installed s well as recommend how best they can be used to enable the Volta Lake fit in as an inland waterway, into government’s broader plans for establishing a nationwide multimodal transport system.
“The development of the Volta Lake System has been pursued to draw from the synergies of road and rail infrastructure being developed to provide an efficient and effective intermodal transport system for the country” explains Kwaku Asiamah, Minister of Transport
Already, as part of measures to ensure navigation and reduce accidents on the Volta Lake, the removal of tree stumps along the navigational routes in the Oti River at Dambai in the Volta River has been completed. This navigational hazard has been removed at the Dambai-Dambai Overbank, 2.5km; Yeji – Makango, 8.0 km; and Yeji – Aworjekope, 11 km. Other sites have also been selected to benefit from this exercise to improve navigational safety.
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