The Volta Lake is to host the Akwamu Port project in three years time when the facility starts operating. The $200 million project, which is being spearheaded by a construction and real estate investment firm, LMI Holdings, will see the construction of two ports at Mpakadan and Debre in the Eastern and Savanna regions respectively.
The construction of the ports is to boost trade activities on the Volta Lake which is currently largely restricted to the transport of cement and fuel from the South to the North of Ghana.
The project, carried out by the Volta Lake Transport Company (VLTC), also adopts relatively less sophisticated equipment such as containers and cranes to load and transport bulky cargo to and from the Akosombo port.
The Managing Director of LMI Holdings, Kojo Botsio Aduhene, at a stakeholder engagement was hopeful of the prospects of the project to boost trade and enhance inter-connectivity between the North and South via marine transport. The two ports are estimated at a cost of $200 million. When completed, the project will facilitate the transport of goods from the Tema port to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
Meanwhile, Mr. Aduhene says the new port to be constructed will not keep the Volta Lake Transport Company out of business even with the introduction of container vessels for the transport of goods.
Though the transport of cement and fuel by the Volta Lake Transport Company is impacted when the volume of water reduces, the LMI Holdings CEO stressed that the partnership is necessary to sustain jobs.
“We are working side by side with the VRA, and at the moment there is a tender process going on in which VRA is inviting investors into the VLTC, and we are involved in the process. This is a twin track because VLTC at the moment carries fuel and bulk cargo like cement and so on, but we are focused on containers which don’t exist at the moment,” he explained.
Source: citibusinessnews.com
