Ghana On Course To Becoming Preferred Maritime
Trade Destination In West Africa – Ofori Asiamah
Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah has said the ongoing upgrade in infrastructure at our air, land and sea ports will see Ghana become a preferred destination for maritime trade in the West African sub-region.
He said this when he took his turn at the mid-week Minister’s Press Briefing in Accra on Wednesday, October 27, 2021.
According to the Minister, the government since assuming office in 2017 has embarked on major infrastructure expansion and service improvements in our maritime and inland waterways and aviation sector to make our ports competitive and highly patronized.
Explaining this the Minister said “government has embarked on an aggressive programme to modernize the country’s sea ports to position them as the leading container hub and the beacon of international trade within West Africa. The Tema Port has seen major infrastructure upgrade in the last 4 years.
“Some of the works include the development of 4 berths at the new Dedicated Container Terminal (MPS Terminal 3). These have been completed and are fully operational. The new terminal is arguably one of the biggest and efficient in Wa and thus enhance our competitiveness in the maritime domain,” he added.
He said prior to the commencement of the terminal in 2018, the volume of transshipment cargo was 71,855 tonnes but with the coming on stream of the terminal and the completion of the berths, transshipment volumes have since increased by five folds to 366,718 tonnes as at the end of 2020.
This the Minister attributed the increase in transhipment to government broad strategy of improving our ports infrastructure so they can rake in the needed revenue.
Other infrastructure developments
He also outlined various completed projects and ongoing infrastructure works in the transport sector.
He said so far, work is almost done on phase II of the Kumasi Airport. Work on the Tamale Airport phase II is also at an advanced stage and the Sunyani Airport is nearing completion noting that the government is constructing 12 landing sites across the country.