Mr Dumega Raymond Okudzeto, an international businessman has declared his intentions to pull out of the Keta New Port development project with his investors from South Korea.

This, he said, had come about due to the unwillingness on the part of some government officials to help make the project a reality.

Addressing a media conference in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Okudzeto, who is also the Founder and President of Volta Foundation, an NGO aimed at developing the Volta Region, appealed to government officials, especially those from the Region to desist from backbiting and thwarting effort to develop the area.

He said since 2002, he had tried to bring Government on board with DY Engineering-the South Korean investors, but the efforts had been thwarted, adding that the estimated cost for the project was $500 million and not $1.2 billion as some government officials had said.

Mr Okudzeto said the Keta Port project, would open up the entire Eastern Corridor from Keta to Nkwanta and beyond to the north and Sahel regions. “It is estimated that more than 30, 000 jobs would be created with the building of the port, with an additional 100,000 jobs for hotels, rest stops, catering services among others,” he said.

He said: “Recently, I took some Indian investors to South Tougu and Akatsi to look at prospective sites for a multimillion dollar sugar plantation, and I was shocked to learn that the very people I was trying to help had gone behind me to tell the investors to be careful in dealing with me as I don’t belong to the ruling party,” he alleged.