The 97.6km Tema Port - Atimpoku - Juapong - Mpakadan Railway Project, a John Mahama-led NDC legacy!!!

The Tema Port - Atimpoku - Juapong - Mpakadan Railway project is a brainchild of the John Mahama-led NDC government which in the year 2016 secured a $ 398 million Indian Export and Import [EXIM] Bank loan facility for the construction of the project.

This Railway project is meant to reduce travel time, pressure, and traffic on our roads and highways, helping to maximize the benefit of water transport on the river Volta and opening up the Northern areas of Ghana.

The plan is to have imported goods destined for the 5 Northern regions of Ghana and the Sahel countries, transported from the Tema harbor by train to Mpakadan, near Apegusu in the Eastern Region for onward transport by using barges via river Volta to Dabre inland port, near Buipe in the Savanna Region, where trucks traveling from the 5 Northern regions (Savanna, Northern, Upper West, Upper East, and North East) or the Sahel countries (Mali, Chad, Sudan, Niger, Burkina) can pick up their goods at Dabre inland port, without necessarily having to travel to Tema for same.

In the same way, goods from the 5 Northern regions or the Sahel countries meant for export would be offloaded at Dabre inland port, Buipe for onward freight to Tema Port through river Volta and the railway.

Writer: Koku Mawuli Nanegbe