Ghana Misses March 2022 Deadline For $500m Suspension Bridge On Volta Lake For Trains

• An ambitious rail project for Ghana's eastern corridor is stalling, having missed a March 2022 completion date
• The suspension bridge over the Volta Lake for the Tema-Mpakadan rail line is still under construction
• Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Railway Development Authority said the project is nearing completion

The contractor working on the 300 metres suspension bridge over the Volta Lake for trains has failed to deliver on a March 2022 completion date for the $500 million project.

In February this year, Afcons Infrastructure Limited told Joy Business it would complete the bridge – part of a total 97 kilometres Tema-Mpakadan rail line – by the end of March.

Afcons Executive Director of Operations, Akhil Gupta, explained that it would take three additional months to put the final touches on the ambitious rail project.

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However, as the end of April approaches, the rail project to connect the capital to major towns and cities in Ghana’s eastern corridor remains uncompleted.

During a recent media engagement, Chief Executive of the Ghana Railway Development Authority, Yaw Owusu, said the project is nearing completion.

He told DNT that it is the first of its kind since independence and points to a concerted rail revolution by the Nana Akufo-Addo led administration.

The 97-kilometre rail project is expected to stretch to 500 kilometres by the end of 2024.

Mr Osei’s Ghana Railway Development Authority is the key government facilitator of the rail project.

Under the auspices of the recreated Ministry of Railway Development, it was empowered and resourced to begin a 3,840-kilometer master plan to touch all of Ghana’s 16 regions.

Ghana signs its biggest single railway contract in history worth $560 million

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Ghana has signed a $560 million deal with Amandi Holdings Limited for the construction of sections of the Western Railway Line (Standard Gauge Line) between Takoradi Harbour and the Huni Valley.

Information available shows that the signing ceremony took place on Wednesday, June 3, 2020.

Present were Joe Ghartey, the Minister of Railway Development, Richard Diegong Dombo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) and Nadav Simhoni, Managing Director of Amandi Holdings Limited.

It is Impossible to Construct any sky Train in Ghana – Amewu

John Peter Amewu, the minister for railway development, has stated that it would be impossible for the government to construct any sky train in the country.

Peter Amewu said the government would not go ahead with the sky project as it promised in November 2019.

According to him, the government cannot fund the project because it is capital intensive.

Source: YEN.com.gh