The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it will revisit the original concept for the Tema-Mpakadan Railway Line project when it is elected to government.
A statement signed by Mr Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the party would put in place a proper lake transport system for cargos to and from the Northern parts of the country, all the way to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
It said that was the surest way of making the Tema-Mpakadan Railway Line viable for a quicker repayment of the loan facility for the project.
The statement said the erstwhile NDC administration under former President John Dramani Mahama initiated the Tema-Mpakadan Railway Line project as part of the country’s strategies to build a multi-modal transportation network, to improve connectivity between the Tema Port and the Northern parts of the country, and to other landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
It said the Mahama-led administration in November 2016, secured funding of $398 million from the EXIM Bank of India for the design and construction of an eight-kilometre (km) railway line from Tema to the Lake Volta and part of Akosombo.
The statement said Cabinet and Parliamentary approvals for the facility were secured before the NDC left office in 2017.
It said sadly, the present government upon assuming office, failed to follow through with the original vision behind the project and aside the years of delay, the government had failed to secure funding for the development of the lake transportation leg of the project.
The statement said the government had only been able to secure an additional funding of $48 million since then, to extend the original 84km railway line by 13km from Akosombo to Mpakadan for some technical consideration.
The statement noted that Mpakadan had no port, while the Volta Lake Port at Akosombo which was supposed to be developed to allow for the lake transportation of cargos to and from the Northern part of the country, had been neglected by the ruling NPP government in the last eight years.
“As things stand now, the Tema-Mpakadan Railway Line can only transport passengers from Tema through Afiemya, North Tongu, Lower Manya Krobo to Mpakadan,” it added.
It noted that relative to the easing of traffic on the Afiemya stretch, the project was not viable without the lake transportation of cargos from the Tema Port to the Northern parts of the country and vice-versa.
It reminded the ruling NPP government that the project was a legacy of the NDC and urged the government to credit the party as it also acknowledged the N1 Highway as the accomplishment of the Kufuor-led NPP government.
