US$330million Boankra Inland Port to be completed by March 2024 — Akufo-Addo assures

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been assured that the 18-year stalled Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal project, known as Boankra Inland Port in Kumasi, would be completed by the first quarter of 2024.

The Concessionaire, Ashanti Ports Services Limited, a joint venture of Afum Quality Limited of Ghana and DSS Associates of the Republic of Korea, told President Akufo-Addo on Sunday when he visited the site of the construction.

Covering a total land area of 413 acres, Concessionaire said “we are working to deliver this job within the scheduled date. By the end of 2023, 80% will be done, and, by the end of the first quarter of 2024, we will finish the project.”

The Concessionaire was hopeful that the eastern and western railway lines would be completed on schedule, which would further improve the viability of the Boankra inland port.

The idea of the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal project has been on the drawing board since former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s government and in an attempt to commence work, it encountered some challenges, “a significant one being the exit of the NPP government in 2009.”

But when President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction of the Port on Thursday, 5th November 2020, he explained that the Boankra Inland Port project was initiated to provide service to importers and exporters in the middle and northern parts of the country, and also serve as a major conduit for the efficient transportation of transit traffic to and from our neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

After completion of the Terminal, it will be fitted with an inland clearance depot, customs bonded and unbonded estates, commercial areas such as banks, offices and trading facilities, vehicle parking areas, light industrial areas, and an administration complex.

The project will also offer significant employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled labour during the two phases of construction and operation. Beyond the creation of jobs, there are other ancillary small and medium-scale businesses that will be located within the enclave to support the operations of the Terminal.

“It is noteworthy that the transformation of the Ghanaian economy, from a raw material producing and exporting one to an industrialised one, will be given a huge impetus with the coming onstream of this facility. Government’s commitment to establishing the economy of Ghana on a solid path of industrialisation, with the view to delivering a vision of self-reliance, development and prosperity for all, is unwavering,” he added at the time.

The Concessionaire, Ashanti Ports Services Limited, according to President Akufo-Addo, is committed to investing a total of $330 million to complete the project. Additionally, the Concessionaire is expected to design, engineer, finance, procure, construct, operate, maintain and transfer title to the government after 30 years.

“It is my hope and expectation that the Concessionaire will not renege on the confidence reposed in it and will take all the necessary actions to deliver the project on schedule and budget,” he added.

One of the success stories of the African economic integration agenda is the coming into force of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

The objective of the AfCFTA is to promote trade among African countries, with the President stressing that “this will be buoyed by the presence of an effective and efficient transport system, especially as Ghana is playing host to the Secretariat”.

President Akufo-Addo was hopeful that “this project and other similar infrastructure projects, such as the development of the Keta Port, the Tema-Akosombo Railway Line, and the ongoing port expansion projects at Tema and Takoradi Ports, would make a positive contribution in ensuring that Ghana derives maximum benefits from the AfCFTA.”