The Boankra Inland Port project at Boankra near Kumasi has been on the drawing board for decades and the Ag. CEO of Ghana Shippers Authority, (GSA), Prof. Ransford Edward Gyampo, paid a working visit to the project site recently to learn first-hand the project’s status.
The project is expected to significantly reduce transport costs and boost exports of products like cocoa, shea-butter and wood – and ease congestion at Ghana’s seaports while facilitating transit trade for landlocked neighbours like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The inland port will serve as a hub for transporting goods and cargo, reducing congestion at the country’s ports and improving trade facilitation.
Prof. Gyampo expressed satisfaction with the progress of work and commended efforts of Justmoh Construction Limited, a Ghanaian-owned construction firm, in executing the project. The project is purportedly 82% complete.
The project’s completion is expected to have a significant impact on Ghana’s economy, creating jobs and stimulating growth in the transport and logistics sectors.
Project Director-Boankra Inland Port, Dr. J.B Koranteng Yorke, said so far phase-one of the project is almost complete and after completion it can be used. He added that currently the company is expecting financial clearance from government to speed up work at the site.
The Boankra Inland Port project covers a total land area of 413 acres in the Ashanti Region and aims to establish a major logistics terminal that will link the ports of Tema and Takoradi to inner parts of Ghana and the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – with the primary purpose of easing congestion at Ghana’s seaports and facilitating transit trade for landlocked neighbours.
Currently, freight transiting to these landlocked countries that will be served by the Inland Port mostly pass through Takoradi and Tema Ports in Ghana. When complete, the facility is expected to enhance trade facilitation in line with broader objectives of the West African sub-regional body ECOWAS.
THEBFTONLINE.COM
