Gov't to Partner Private Investor for construction of Boankra Inland Port  & Eastern Railway line 


Government is to partner a private sector investor for the construction of the Boankra Inland Port and the Eastern Railway line Project by the end of 2015 to add up to the transportation infrastructure of the country.
 
The Minister for Transport, Dzifa Attivor, said this on Tuesday November 18, 2014 when she appeared before Parliament to respond to a question posed by MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, on plans towards revamping the Accra-Nsawam Railway line. 

According to her the two major projects are aimed at providing 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 land-locked countries such Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. 

She told the MP's that the projects which were put together in collaboration with the Public Investment Division of the Ministry of Finance involve 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. 

She 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 to advise on the PPP option and it is expected that by the end of 2015 a private sector investor would partner government for the execution of the projects. 

She also 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 has been undertaking sleeper renewals where bad wooden sleepers are being replaced with steel sleepers. 

Also in the House was the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, to answer questions on plans to upgrade the professional, academic and hierarchical status of career magistrates.


GBC