The Minister for Railways Development, John Peter Amenu has said construction works on the railway lines especially Western, Northern and Eastern regions would see major development early next year.
The Ghana Railway system and infrastructure have been inactive and depriving the nation’s economy of its development rate and living expenses substantially.
The Minister in an interview on Adzekye Mu Nsem on Spice Fm 91.9, mentioned that the railway development is one of the pivot of the government and that his outfit is working assiduously to fore see the works of the sector.
He made note of a number of works which has been awarded to construction companies like Amandi, Akon Construction amongst others to complete the lines in the country.
“Currently, there’s an aggressive progress in terms of work going around that section. Phase one of the Western Line which is from Sekondi to Manso has been awarded to Amandi Construction. The progress of that work is about 80% complete. Amandi is taking over from Manso to Huni Valley with a distance of about 74 kilometers. I’m sure by first week in January, active construction would be seen commencing along that section.”
On financing of the works to be done, Mr. Amewu identified that some companies have written to the Ghanaian government to finance the construction of the railway lines. This he said was due to government’s debt which makes it impossible to finance such works.
“There’s a company that has written to Ghana Government about the need to pre finance that section from Awaso and Ahiniahini. Because of the fiscal space of government, we are unable to receive more PPC construction companies to undertake the job. These railway jobs are very expensive and the only means we are able to do it is through borrowing”.
He however mentioned that, traffic would be transferred to the rail lines in order to reduce damages caused by heavy duty vehicles which haul bauxite, manganese across the country
