TAKORADI , TRAIN STATION / SIGN BOARD
There are weekly trains from Takoradi to Kumasi and Sekondi area. (Information up to dat September 2009 -ghana-net.com)
TAKORADI , TRAINSTATION 2007
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UAE group signs Ghana rail deal
Dubai: A consortium headed by Dubai-based Kampac Oil Company has signed a $1.6 billion (Dh5.8 billion) contract for a railway project in western Ghana.
Kampac yesterday announced the signing of a 35-year concession with the Ghana Railway Corporation.
The contract involves the construction of 800 km of new railway line and the rehabilitation of 400 km of existing line.
The construction of the new line between Takoradi and Hamile in the Upper West Region will begin in December.
The first phase of the contract - redevelopment of the present 400 km rail line - is scheduled to complete in 18 months, and the entire 800 km new line will be commissioned in 48 months.
Ghanaian Minister of Ports, Railways and Harbour Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi said this contract heralds a new era in cross-border investment and economic cooperation between the UAE and Ghana.
"The awarding of this contract marks the fulfilment of the government's policy to extend the country's rail network to the northern parts of the country," he said.
"It will also promote cross-border trade and economic activity through improved land transport linkages and improve air passenger and freight linkages across Africa's sub-region," the minister added.
Reducing congestion
Under the terms of the contract, Kampac Oil ME will design, build, operate and transfer the 800 km rail line from Takoradi to Hamile to the government.
Kampac has secured the mineral and mining rights for key proven reserves valued at more than $2 billion as part of the concession.
The new standard gauge line will start from Takoradi and run via Manso, Tarkwa, Huni Valley, Dunkwa, Awaso, Nyinahim, Sunyani, Techiman, Bole, and Sawla, Wa to Hamile.
The UAE organisations in the consortium are the Jebel Ali-based Gulf African Project Co Ltd and Dubai's Suresh Trading Co.
Other consortium partners are China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, Trans-tech Engineering Corporation, Manferrotaal, Rail One of Germany, Pasiner Edustrial Tesisler Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. of Turkey, R.H. Railway Consultants, Consolidated Power Projects (Ptg), Geneva-based Optima Asset Management Co., and Smice International.
The project seeks to strengthen Ghana's freight corridor while stemming the railway network's traffic problems and revenue losses.
The project also envisages rehabilitating and maintaining the existing Western Line.
Part of the project is the opening of an inland port at Boankra Kumasi aimed at reducing customs clearance pressure at the Tema and Takoradi ports by redirecting freight inland, thus increasing rail traffic and revenue.
The financing of the project was done through the assignment of $2 billion worth of mineral and mining rights to the consortium on an exclusive basis.
Kampac plans to raise $2 billion to $4 billion by monetising a portion of the mineral property assets.
Source:
gulfnews.
Ghana leads in Railway network to link ECOWAS
Accra, July 5, GNA - Ghana has already taken a lead in rehabilitating and expanding its railway network system, to pave way for the Trans-ECOWAS interconnecting railway project in member States. According to Ms. Sophia Horner-Sam, Deputy Minister of Harbours and Railways, government had signed a contract with Peatrak Company Limited (an engineering company), to begin the first phase of construction of new rail lines from Accra through Tema to Kumasi. She said the project would be expanded from Kumasi to Paga in the Upper East Region, to link the country to Burkina-Faso.
Ms. Horner-Sam, who was addressing experts at a national information seminar on the progress on a feasibility study on the Trans-ECOWAS interconnecting Railway project on Wednesday, said rail transportation could become the most viable option to road transportation, provided the costs were put under control. The seminar, which brought together experts and engineers, would discuss, among other things, the content of the study, a presentation of the segments affected by the study in Ghana and the mode of data collection and was expected to educate stakeholders on the project so as to receive better imputs and add-ons to the scope of the study. Ms. Horner-Sam said the rehabilitation of existing Western Railway lines from Takoradi to Kumasi through to Hamile in the Upper West Region, were all significant efforts towards ensuring a sustainable sub-regional integration.
"This can be achieved through the implementation of concrete projects and programmes aimed at developing the region in a comprehensive and interdependent way," she said. The Deputy Minister noted that coming on the heels of the African Union Summit, which had the vision of a united Africa, called for dynamic sub-regional organisations, which were committed and result-oriented.
She explained that the commitment by member states to the mobilisation of resources and the development of the railway industry in Africa was in line with the transport objectives for fulfilling the NEPAD Vision of reducing delays in cross boarder movements of people, goods and services.
"It will also promote cross boarder trade and economic activity through improved land transport linkages and improve air passenger and freight linkages across Africa's sub-region," she said.
Ms. Horner-Sam said for Ghana, pragmatic policies such as the development of a comprehensive national transport policy was operational to pursue strategic objectives that ensured safer, reliable, effective, efficient and fully integrated transport system that was responsive to the needs of producers and consumers.
She said if well developed, the rail system had the potential of becoming a vital part of the country's transport system carrying a larger portion of travellers and freight on the busiest transport corridors of the country and beyond, while reducing cost. She urged participants to provide realistic and practical information that would ensure an effective railway system in the sub-Region.
Dr Seini Modi Salifou, CIMA-UMA Expert (an Engineering Company) explained that the 14-month feasibility study, which started in November 2006 was carried out in 10 ECOWAS member countries, including Togo, Nigeria, Niger, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina-Faso, Senegal and Ghana and was expected to end in December this year.
He said the study realised that most of the countries already had existing rail lines that would make the interconnectivity much easier, though about 17 more new lines had been recommended to be developed to make the process complete.
Dr Salifou stressed that as the mandated consultants of the Project by the ECOWAS Secretariat, it considered the study to be of paramount importance as it must reveal the interest of railway transportation and demonstrate both technical and economic justification of the investments required for these infrastructures.
He expressed the hope that stakeholders would have a better understanding of the objectives and content of the study to be able to contribute effectively and also called for realistic practicable suggestions to make the study a success.
Source:
GNA
has denied media reports concerning the alleged sale of the company's property in Takoradi.
"The GRCL wishes to state categorically that no property owned by the company in Takoradi has been sold to any individual or corporate organisation," it stated.
In a statement signed by the acting Managing Director (MD), Mr Rufus Quaye, and dated May 24, 2007, the company said it "finds it necessary to" inform the general public about the circumstances that may have warranted the initiation of processes leading to the eventual leasing of its property and not the outright sale of those property".
This was in reaction to a publication in The Chronicle alleging impropriety in the sale of property belonging to the company.
It pointed out that the decision to lease some of its property was to generate funds to support its operations, a process which had been with the organisation since the 1930s.
The statement said in addition, the company had a large workforce in relation to its present level of operations which must also be catered for.
It said because of those problems, the board of the GRCL, after extensive deliberations and consultations with the Ministry of Harbours and Railways, proposed to the government the leasing of some of its property in order to generate funds to support its operations.
It said the board consequently contracted KOA-Consult, an estate valuation consultancy firm, to undertake the necessary financial assessment of the company's property, with a view to presenting proposals on the best financial deal for the leasing of such property.
It said after studying the report submitted by KOA-Consult, the board of the GRCL decided that the amount to be derived from the leasing of the property was far below its expectation and, consequently, decided to suspend the leasing of the property.
"From the foregoing, it is an indubitable fact that no Railway property in Takoradi has been disposed of," it stated.
In another development, the statement explained that it was not true that the Estate Manager of the company, a sibling of the acting MD, Mr Quaye, was appointed by the acting MD in order for him (MD) to allegedly benefit illegally from the disposal of GRCL property.
It pointed out that the Estate Manager was not appointed by Mr Quaye but rather the former MD of the company.
The statement said the company was prepared to divulge to the media accurate information on matters pertaining to its functions and operations and expressed its commitment to work with them the cause of revamping and rehabilitating the ailing railway system in the country.
Source : Daily Graphic
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