Advisor being sought for Boankra port

Government will soon commence the US$250 million proposed Boankra Inland Port and the eastern railway line projects, after it concludes a comprehensive search for transaction advisors to enable it develop a viable bankable project.

Proposals from six firms are still being scrutinised to meet the criteria to undertake the project, which has stalled for some 24 years now. 

Mr. Eric Tetteh, Planning Officer at the Ministry of Transport who made a presentation on the project in Accra, said: “A lot of ground work has been done,” on the project located at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.

“Government has now requested for a financial advisor to structure the entire process, come out with the financial modeling, and get all the necessary things in place so that investors that come will know what is required of them,” he said.

A search for a strategic investor in 2010 stalled as none of the interested investors reportedly met the financial requirements.

The construction will help decongest the Tema and Takoradi Ports and spur a rise in the country’s maritime trade. It is expected to create 1,000 jobs when completed.

Its completion will not only boost economic activities and create employment, but also ease transportation problems and reduce the high cost of transporting goods and services to the Northern Region.

Explaining the reason for the delay, Mr. Tetteh said there were competing projects that did not allow the ministry to use its internally generated funds to build the port.

He said the greatest challenge facing the project is lack of an accessible rail network, but added that development of the eastern railway line will help attract investors to partner government in implementing the project which is considered a viable economic venture.

In January 1996, then-President Jerry John Rawlings cut the sod for commencement of the project at Fumesua near Kumasi, but government was petitioned over ownership of the 230 acres of land acquired for the project.

Several peaceful solutions and interventions to solve the problem of ownership unduly delayed the project until it was relocated to Boankra in Ejisu.

The first phase of the project, estimated to cost US$60million, has been completed -- with the demarcation, clearing and fencing of the 400-acre piece of land ushering in the second phase, which will provide infrastructure and utility services at the site.

The Boankra Inland Port will be the first of its kind in the country.