Foreign firms to set up factories targets railway sector
Some foreign companies have expressed interest in building factories that will produce some of the raw materials needed for the construction of the rail lines across the country.
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This is to boost the government’s efforts at revamping the railway sector and also take advantage of some of the opportunities that will come with it.
Already, two companies have teamed up to establish a railway sleeper manufacturing plant at Essikado in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region.
The two companies are Concrete Products and Logistics Limited (CPLL) and Aveng Infraset of South Africa which plans to set up a US$10 million facility which will produce concrete sleepers and other railway accessories.
The Minster of Railway Development, Mr Joe Ghartey, in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the sidelines of a business meeting with the Ghana-Israel Business Chamber, said the ministry was in discussion with some companies which were interested in producing much more than just concrete sleepers.
He said the companies were seeing the potential in the sector.
“What it means is that companies worldwide have noticed the fact that our railway sector is about to explode so they are interested in becoming partners in it. They see the fact that if you have so much rail tracks in the country, there will be a lot of traffic in the sector, therefore, they will have an advantage if they start producing some of the raw materials ,” he stated.
He, said that the discussions with these companies were at an early stage and therefore could not give out their names.
Splitting of GRDA
The minister also pointed out that the ministry was considering the possibility of splitting the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) into two institutions. One would take care of the development of the sector while the other would act as the regulator.
He explained that the split would further strengthen and position the sector to enable it to attract the necessary investments that had eluded it over the years.
He said there was the need to strengthen the institutional and legal framework of the sector, and one way to do that was to split the GRDA so that the new bodies could perform their duties effectively.
Under the Railway Act 2008 (Act 779), the GRDA is expected to promote the development of the railway sector, hold, administer and improve railway assets and promote the development and management of sub-urban railway.
Under the same Act, the GRDA is expected to grant licences, concessions and leases which are necessary for the operation of railways, exercise ownership rights over assets that are transferred to the authority from railway asset, set and enforce safety and security standards for the construction and operation of railways, as well as regulate and monitor the activities, licenses, concessionaires and operators of the railway.
The sector minister was of the view that the same institution being in charge of development and at the same time being the regulator would lead to the ineffectiveness of the authority, hence, the need to create another institution to tackle the development of the sector.
“The Ghana Railway Authority is the developer and is supposed to develop the infrastructure or be the lead government agency in developing the infrastructure, and at the same time the regulator. This will not aid the development we hope to see in the sector,” he said.
“The Aviation industry, for instance, has the Civil Aviation Authority as the regulator and the Ghana Airport Company as the developer and we think the same should be done for the railway sector as well,” he added. — GB