President John Dramani Mahama has broken ground for construction works to begin on two major projects at the Takoradi Port in the Western Region.
The projects are a $137 million ship repair facility dubbed "Project Shiprite" and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority’s $98.41 million, 300-metre-long, 75,000 dead-weight-tonnage capacity Berth-19 facility.
The Project Shiprite, a 25-year concessionary project, is an integrated ship repair and maintenance facility being developed within the Port of Takoradi by Prime Meridian Docks Ghana Limited.
Designed to serve cargo vessels, offshore vessels and the wider maritime industry, the facility, when completed, would strengthen regional repair capacity and position Ghana as a leading maritime service hub. Shiprite is expected to be completed in 18 months, while Berth-19 would take 26 months to complete.
The $98.41 million Berth-19 facility is being funded directly from GPHA’s own resources and will enhance the operations of the Takoradi Port, rake in more revenue and further expand the trade sector.
President Mahama, in his address, said the Shiprite Project when completed would create 430 jobs for the nation’s young people. "This is all part of the Big Push and the resetting agenda to create jobs for our young people, and indeed, the icing on the cake is 30 per cent of the jobs are reserved for females, for our young girls," he stated.
He noted that expanding the nation’s ports, building railways and reconstructing roads were all necessary to build a vibrant economy. The President said on the whole of the West Coast and the Gulf Coast, there was no major ship repair facility, and the nation had to send some of its aging naval fleets to the Damme shipyard in the Netherlands for servicing and maintenance.
"It is the old ship repair facility our dear First President left us which we have mismanaged, and we have not looked after properly. That is the Tema Dry Docks and Shipyard," the President said. "I know that the private sector is better able to manage things like this, and so I have faith in this project that we are cutting. I am sure it will end up like our own shipyard."
He said there were a lot of vessels working on the Gulf Coast, and they either had to go to Europe for maintenance or to Durban in South Africa. "So, this fills a very good vacuum. Ships from Nigeria, oil rigs working along the Gulf Coast and all that will find a very efficient place for their repair and services."
President Mahama said Berth-19 upon completion would increase their capacity for bulk handling. "Berth-19 is very important. A lot of work has gone on in Takoradi, including the dredging of the port to receive bigger vessels than it used to have before. I think it was eight meters or something," he said. "Today, we are talking about 16 meters, that can accommodate the largest ship in the world at 16 meters. And so Takoradi has progressed quite well."
Touching on railways, the President said the Minister of Finance was going to announce the budget on Thursday, and in that budget, there would be the new economic plan that they had come up with. "We are prioritising the Western Rail Line. It is going to be in two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 will take the line all the way to Nyinahini so that we can start to mine the bauxite in Nyinahini," he said.
President Mahama expressed gratitude to the Government of the United Kingdom and all the partners who had made the project possible. Dr Christian Rogg, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, said Ghana building a strong and lasting industry with British firms contributed skills, technology and expertise. He noted that the private infrastructure development group had just approved $300,000 in funding for a two-year programme to train, certify and bring more women into skilled technical roles within Ghana’s maritime agency.
