Railways to Be Given On Concession, Not Sold

THE DEPUTY minister for Ports, Harbours and Railways, Dr. Gheysika Adombirie Agambila, has said that the Ghana Railways Company (GRC) would not be privatized but be given on concession to a private company to run.
He clarified that the concession arrangement is quite different from privatization because GRC would still be owned by Ghana with his ministry having all oversight responsibilities. "We want to give it to a company to operate, rehabilitate and maintain the rail lines for a number of years and after that period of time, we would reopen for concession again."
He clarified that the government chose this arrangement because it could not marshall the necessary funding to repair all railroads in the country.
Dr. Agambila said this when he spoke to Chronicle at his office in Accra last week.
According to the deputy minister, "a number of companies have expressed interest so far, but the selection of a concessionaire which would be transparent, would be done early next year and the company that would be selected would be responsible for running passenger services and the rehabilitation of all existing railway lines in the country using their own finances."
He noted that under such an agreement, the defunct Eastern and Western railway lines would be resuscitated while passenger train services in and out of Accra would be improved.
He said the most feasible to come on board soonest would be the Accra-Tema passenger service.
Dr. Agambila pointed out that this would ease the heavy traffic congestion on the Tema-Teshie-Nungua road and in Accra as a whole.
"Accra-Aburi, and Accra-Takoradi passenger services may also come on board in the future," he added. On the extension of the railroad to the north, Dr. Agambila said a team of Chinese railways experts is expected in the country to do feasibility studies on the project at the expense of the Chinese government.
Asked whether electric trains would be introduced under the "concession" programme, he thought that those trains are the best because they do not pollute the environment but he said that it would depend on the concessionaire who wins, although he would suggest it to the winner.
He held that the extension has been necessitated by the volume of transit trade that is carried out through the country to Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali has increased enormously in the last few years, ruining the country's roads. He said the country's roads could last a bit longer, if these heavy cargoes are transported to their various destinations by rail.
One striking feature of this project, the minister noted, would be the linkage of the inland port at Boankra with the railway development where containers heading towards the north would be transported from Tema and Takoradi by rail to Boankra to be cleared.
According to the minister, the first phase of the four-phase Boankra Inland Port project estimated to cost $60 million, has started. He said a 400-acre piece of land has been demarcated, cleared and fenced for construction to begin.
The port would consist of the construction of container depots, administration block, commercial centre, rehabilitation of railway lines, and a parking space, among other structures.
Speaking on the development of the Volta lake transport, the minister said his ministry wants to develop the lake transport to its most efficient level but the problem of low water levels at Buipe where the terminal is supposed to be situated and obstacles such as tree stumps in the lake, are hampering its steady development.