CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Ghana |
TRANSPORT
Ghana’s railways have been neglected for years, but soon the sector is to be revived
in order to take advantage of investment promotions and to offer an alternative to road transport
Rail transport has become virtually non-existent in Ghana for some years now. The railways were heavily used during the colonial period in order to transport raw materials out of the country. Following independence, the system suffered greatly from lack of investment by successive governments. By the 1970s, Ghana’s railway system had lost much of its significance.
Today, the few railway lines in the country are mainly used for short journeys and for transporting minerals from the mines. However, with Ghana’s roads rapidly becoming chocked with traffic and the need to take advantage of every aspect of economic development, the government has now intensified its efforts to revive the sector.
Interest in reviving the railway network has been strengthened by Ghana’s far-reaching programme of trade and investment promotion, designed to make Ghana a gateway into the West African sub-region. The railway sector is expected to play an important role in this initiative. The Ghana Railway Company Limited, currently has a very small share of the national transport market, with 4% of freight and 1% of passengers.
Over 90% of rail freight traffic is bulk minerals — bauxite and manganese — transported from the mines at Awaso and Nsuta to Takoradi Port in the Western Region for export. Most of the other traditional freight commodities such as timber, cocoa, petroleum products and cement, as well as inter-city passenger traffic, have been lost to road transport -– to the extent that road transport is the only known and affordable means used by many Ghanaians.
But with the long term goal of linking the north with the south, the government is keen to put in place an effective rail network, that will also serve to transport containers from Tema Port to neighbouring landlocked countries such as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Tema Port is presently witnessing a flurry of activity as a result of the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. Since the Ivorian insurgency began, large ships laden with goods for these land-locked countries, now discharge their cargoes at Tema instead of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire. However, Ghana doesn’t have any rail system worthy of the name for onward transportation of goods, so the roads must be used, and this is an expensive procedure involving a complicated documentation system. The authorities believe that with an effective rail system in place, they could win long-lasting contracts from the neighbouring landlocked countries.
Ports and railways go together
Ben Owusu-Mensah is Director-General of Ghana Ports and Harbours (GPHA). He is convinced that «if we have an efficient rail system, neighbouring landlocked countries will continue to do business with us, even after Côte d’Ivoire’s crisis is over».
The government feels the railways have a bright future and recently outlined its programme for restructuring and expanding the country’s railways. It has also created a new Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways. President John Agyekum Kufuor says the establishment of the new ministry is to give a clear political direction to, and instigate rapid development of the ports and the railways system which have not received any attention in past years.
Indeed, side-by-side with revamping the railways, is a port modernisation programme. President Kufuor says: «If Ghana is to become a true gateway to the sub-region, and particularly to the landlocked neighbours, then the railway system has to be built with the ports in mind».
With the assistance of the Japanese government, a development plan for the two ports of Tema and Takoradi has been drawn up. It is envisaged that once the plan has been activated, the ports will be able to handle the expected growth-rate in traffic that is projected to rise five-fold by the year 2010.
Plans are afoot for the reconstruction of the Accra-Tema line. Tema is an industrial city linked with Accra where many workers live. A French company has expressed deep interest in investing in this line. There’s already been a series of meetings between the French company, GPHA, and the Ghana Railways Corporation (GRC) and it’s believed that very soon, reconstruction work on the Tema-Accra rail link will be underway. Also, potential investors (including a Chinese company) have declared their interest in upgrading the line to the east of the country. When completed, these two lines will pave the way for other lines to be constructed, to include the north in the railway network.
Presently, the authorities are having a hard time driving out thousands of traders, who have occupied some of the railway lines in Accra and are using railway facilities for their private trading purposes. For example, traders have been using parts of Accra railway station over the years, because of the near collapse of railway operations. They squat on the disused lines for their trading activities. Some have even made the station their place of abode over the years and built structures close to the lines.
During a familiarisation visit, the Ports, Harbours and Railways Minister, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, said: «It’s not right for the traders to carry out their business on the lines. So, we need to move them out». He acknowledges, however, that some of them have been living there for 20 years — which makes it difficult for the investors to pump money into the system while squatters are still around.
The Minister is convinced that Ghana’s railways do have a bright future if only they can be brought up to scratch.