Government is close to announcing a new strategic investor for the stalled Boankra Inland Port Project sometime next year Transport Minister, Kweku Ofori Asiamah, has said.
The Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), in partnership with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), is working with the private sector to establish the Boankra Inland Port near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
Speaking at a press soiree organised by the Transport Ministry for media editors at Ada, he stated: “The Authority is also working with the Ministry of Transport on the engagement of a strategic partner for the Boankra Inland Port project, which is currently on-going with negotiations completed with shortlisted firms”.
Though the minister did not state the exact time for selection of the prospective investor, it is believed this will happen sometime next year.
The infrastructure will link the ports of Tema and Takoradi to inner parts of the country and the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. This is expected to be a free port that combines unimodal and inter-modal operations aimed at easing congestion at Ghana’s seaports, thus facilitating the transit trade of Ghana’s land-locked neighbours.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings cut the sod for construction of an inland port at Fumesua in the Ashanti Region in January 1996 – but due to litigation over the land, the project was moved to Boankra with work formally beginning in 2001.
The Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), which is the main supervisory agency for the project, however said all is not lost and everything is being done to bring the project back on stream.