A CONSORTIUM headed by Dubai-based Kampac Oil Company has signed a $1.6-billion contract for a railway project in Ghana.
Kampac on Sunday announced the signing of a 35-year concession with the Ghana Railway Corporation in a statement.
The contract involves the construction of 800 km of new railway lines and the rehabilitation of 400 km of existing ones.
The construction of the new line between Takoradi and Hamile in the Upper West Region will begin in December this year.
The first phase of the contract, which is the redevelopment of the present 400 km rail line, is scheduled to be completed in 18 months. The entire 800 km new line would be commissioned in 48 months.
Under the terms of the contract, Kampac Oil Company will design, build, operate and transfer the 800 km rail line from Takoradi to Hamile to the government.
Kampac has secured the mineral and mining rights for key proven reserves, valued at more than $2 billion as part of the concession.
The new standard gauge line will start from Takoradi and run via Manso, Tarkwa, Huni Valley, Dunkwa, Awaso, Nyinahim, Sunyani, Techiman, Bole, and Sawla, Wa to Hamile.
The UAE organisations in the consortium are the Jebel Ali-based Gulf African Project Co Ltd and Dubai's Suresh Trading Co.
Other consortium partners are China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, Trans-tech Engineering Corporation, Manferrotaal, Rail One of Germany, Pasiner Edustrial Tesisler Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. of Turkey, R.H. Railway Consultants, Consolidated Power Projects (Ptg), Geneva-based Optima Asset Management Company, and Smice International.
The project seeks to strengthen Ghana's freight corridor, while stemming the railway network's traffic problems and revenue losses.
The project also envisages rehabilitating and maintaining the existing Western Line.
Part of the project is the opening of an inland port at Boankra in Kumasi, aimed at reducing customs clearance pressure at the Tema and Takoradi ports by redirecting freight inland- thus increasing rail traffic and revenue.
The financing of the project was done through the assignment of $2 billion worth of mineral and mining rights to the consortium on an exclusive basis.
Kampac plans to raise between $2 billion and $4 billion by monetising a portion of the mineral property assets.
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