Invest in Ghana’s railway sector – Prez Akufo-Addo urges Norwegian investors
President Akufo-Addo while addressing participants the Ghana-Norway business and investment forum in Accra, urged investors from Norway to consider partnering government to develop a modern railway network in the country.
According to the President, his government is embarking on an aggressive programme to attract the needed investment to develop the country’s railway and road infrastructure.
“We are hopeful that with solid private sector participation, we can develop a modern railway network with strong production centre linkages and with a potential to connect us with our neighbours.”
“Members of the Norwegian business community, you can choose to invest in Ghana through the GIPC or set up as a free zones enterprise, regardless of where the investment is, the government has instituted a number of fiscal incentives for the investor depending on the nature of the activity or the location of the investment. I want us to build a stronger Ghana-Norway relationship for the benefit of our respective shareholders,” he remarked.
The President’s call on Norwegian investors to invest in the country’s railway infrastructure follows recent comments by the Minister for Railway Development, John Peter Amewu, that the government would not be able to construct a sky train in the country in the near future as promised.
The Minister noted that funding for the construction of some of the projects in the railway sector is becoming problematic for the government, adding it is not possible for government to build the sky train.
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In November 2019, the then minister for the sector, Joe Ghartey and the government of Ghana, signed an agreement for the construction of the Accra Sky Train Project on the sidelines of the African Investment Forum in South Africa.
The proposed initiative in Accra was to provide the development of five routes, four of which are comprised of radial routes that originate at the proposed SkyTrain Terminal, at the heart of Accra, at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, and one route that provides an intra-city commuter loop distribution service, also emanating from Circle.
The project envisaged a total track length across all routes of 194 kilometres.
Subsequently, the management of the Ghana Railway Development Authority disclosed that feasibility studies on the proposed sky-train project in Accra had been completed.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, Richard Diedong Dombo assured that government will begin implementation of the project after scrutinizing the report it has received.
“The sky trains are on an elevator platform rather than underground. They will be running on platforms over the city of Accra. It will be a community train and not an intercity one. At the moment, the feasibility studies have been completed and it is being studied before the contract is signed,” he said in an interview.
