In a desire to transform this country into a modern one, one of the agents for this transformation is the railway infrastructure.
Ghana used to have a vibrant railway system during the colonial and the immediate years after independence, however, this important transport system has been left to disuse.
The absence of railways in the country’s transportation system has attracted a lot of people to invest heavily in heavy duty vehicles for the haulage of Cocoa and Minerals such as Bauxite from Awaso to the sea port of Sekondi/Takoradi.
But, Ghana under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced the creation of the Ministry of Railways Development.
The good intentions for the Railways Ministry have met stiff opposition from interested parties – yet, its effort to revamp the rail system across the country has been overwhelming even though much is not said about that.
However, the nephew of President Nana Akufo-Addo and member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Okyere Darko, has said the tremendous achievements by the Railway Ministry led by sector Minister, Joe Gartey must be highly praised after hoping to see a better railway system by 2025.
According to him, the sector “Will indeed by transformational if government can push this agenda all the way”.
He was emphatic in a Facebook post that “The NPP is focused on building a comprehensive modern national railway network for the country. It is an ambitious plan and work is earnestly on course.”
Railways To Transform Economy
The Minister for Railways Development, Joe Ghartey has earlier indicated that railway development would transform Ghana’s economy since it would improve business activities in other sectors of the country’s economy.
According to him, the success of the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government would partly depend on the performance of the railway sector.
“We are going to transform this sector. The railway will form the backbone of Ghana’s economic transformation,” he told Peacefmonline.com
He pointed out that the Nana Akufo-Addo administration took the best decision to create the Ministry of Railway Development.
Ghana-South Africa Railway Deal
According to the Railways Minister, Joe Gartey, Ghana is in talks with South Africa’s leading railway and ports company, Transnet International Holdings, to supply 110 wagons to the Ghana Railway Company Limited
The supply would include 22 coaches, eight locomotives; six for freight to power the wagons, two for passenger service, and another two vans with first-class kitchens.
Mr Ghartey said, “South Africa wants to enter a long-term partnership with the Ghana railway company, they want to do so many things with Ghana but we have told them we don’t have money; we will sit down with them to ensure we can pay back. I can assure you that we can’t pay or break our back.”
The railway Development Agenda
The 2020 transformation agenda would mean the construction of a 339-kilometre Western corridor project linking Takoradi and Kumasi, then the eastern corridor 218 kilometres.
Aside from the 10 wagons coming from South Africa, a joint evaluation committee on the Accra- Ouagadougou railway project has received 15 proposals from companies interested in financing the project.
From the rail lines, the university, to the newspaper, the railway Ministry seems to have a lot on its table; and all these are expected to be done in just two years.
Rehabilitation of existing railway network
As a short to medium term (2-5 years) programme, this project aims at rehabilitating existing lines, that is, Western, Eastern and the Central Lines. These lines when rehabilitated will contribute immensely to the socio-economic development of Ghana.
The Western Line is linked to the Takoradi Port whilst the Eastern Line is linked to the Tema Port. The Central Line is linked to both Takoradi and Tema Ports via the Western and Eastern line respectively. The Western Line will also provide direct rail services from Takoradi Port to the Inland Port through Kumasi. The total track length is 977 km.
In addition to the rehabilitation of the tracks, it has become necessary to rehabilitate existing locomotives as well as procure new locomotives, container wagons, mineral wagons with self steering bogies, stell covered vans for haulage of cocoa and hopper wagons for track maintenance.
The rehabilitation work will include replacement of rails, rail fastenings, sleepers, sleeper fastennings, ballast and replacement of bridge on the Eastern Line. The existing signal and telecommunication equipment will be replaced.
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash
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