President John Mahama has revealed plans by a private investor to establish a ferry service in Tema that will serve countries along the West African coast.
Speaking at the Commissioning of Phases 1 and 2 of the Tema Port Expansion Project on November 14, he said the ferries are expected to transport vehicles, passengers, and goods between Ghana and other West African states.
President Mahama said his government will provide full support to ensure its success.
President Mahama envisioned the project and in November 2016 officially launched it during his first full term as the President of Ghana.
The $1.5 billion thermal port expansion project executed through a partnership involving Meridian Port Services (MPS) the Ghana Port and Harbours Authority, APM Terminals and Africa Global Logistics has been hailed by government as one of the largest and most ambitious port infrastructure development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
President Mahama described the public-private partnership between the Meridian Port Services and the Ghana Port and Harbours Authority as a win-win arrangement stressing the immense benefits the GPHA continues to enjoy from it.
He lamented the political controversies that previously surrounded the project, including false allegations that he sold the thermal port.
“What we have achieved is phenomenal and it shows what public-private partnerships canachieve. The first terminal in the old ports, that was the first terminal MPS built. Today, itis wholly owned and operated by GHAPOHA. So GHAPOHA earns money from that berth in the old ports.
I can understand that sometimes people try to play politics, especially when electionsare coming up. I was accused of selling a port that did not exist. This port did notexist. How I could have sold it, I don’t understand. But of course, it’s an occupational hazard for those of us who choose to go into politics,”he lamented.
The President announced the private investor’s plan to launch a ferry service in Tama, linking Ghana with other West African countries.
” If you go to Europe, you know what the ferries are for. You can drive your car onto a ferry andthen it will sail to Apapa in Nigeria and you drive off and go straight into Lagos or wherever you’re going. It can take trucks carrying cargo. It can take passengers.
And so if wehave that service, it would help supplement sending cargo always by road. You can go by ferry with your goods to Nigeria and avoid all the checkpoints where you have to paysmall, small VAT to all kinds of offices,” the President said.
He also tasked the port authorities to createemployment opportunities for young Ghanaians.
“So, I’m sure in a short while from now we’ll come to see some of our young men and women who have trained as seafarers to begin to operate on vessels that are redistributing containers from Tama to other places,” President Mahama noted.
Source: 3news.com