The Minister for Railways Redevelopment, John Peter Amewu, says in line with the Ministry’s plan to increase the stake of Ghanaians in the ongoing railway redevelopment, no contractor will be allowed to import railway sleepers.
John Peter Amewu said this while inspecting Amandi’s construction works on the Kojokrom-Eshiem to Manso railway line on the final day of his two-day tour of the Western Region.
The Minister said the new contracts being signed from now will not have less than 30 percent of local content to make sure Ghanaians also benefit from the redevelopment.
“All sectors of the economy are key just as the President keeps mentioning that all our infrastructural development must have some Ghanaian component. However, I understand that the sleepers I’m standing on at this portion of the construction had been brought from abroad. Maybe it was because of the duration of the contract and the contract sum which is why they did that. But all other contracts that are have been signed have stated categorically the element of Ghanaian content. ”
“Thus, nothing less than 30%, which means that going forward, no contractor is going to import even the sleeper into the country. The sleeper is made up of sand, aggregate, and cement as well as the processing equipment which can all be procured locally. So all these things can be done locally. So going forward we’re are going to increase the local content of the construction site of the railway redevelopment“, he added.
John Peter Amewu in his assessment of the 65% work done by Amandi on the Kojokrom-Eshiam-Manso standard gauge railway praised them for the quality work done.
“As a layman, I think the quality is obviously classic and the progress is commendable and I’m happy to see one of the best standard gauges constructed in this country. The material content used meets the specified content in the contract. This is the beginning of the Western line from Takoradi and we have about three contractors also working from Kumasi on the Northern side. So we expect to get the Western line completed as soon as possible to enable the haulage of Bauxite from Awaso and also when the Nyinahene Bauxite production commences”, he said.
The Project Manager for Amandi, Ewood Derick, briefing the Minister about the 22-kilometer Kojokrom-Eshiem to Manso railway line said it is about 65 percent complete. He however expressed concern about outstanding challenges with compensation.
He said Amandi plans to finish the line by March 2022.
The Managing Director of the Ghana Railways Company Limited, Dr. Ing. Micheal Adjei-Anyetei, who accompanied the Minister on the tour said the company has completed all rehabilitation works on the Takoradi to Tarkwa line, and will soon resume the passenger train service.
The Minister for Railways Redevelopment, John Peter Amewu who earlier paid a courtesy call on the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, charged the Minister to tighten security along the Western Railway corridor to arrest the rampant stealing of railway tracks which is impeding the redevelopment of the sector.
Mr. Amewu who also addressed railway workers at Ketan-Loko near Sekondi, advised the railway workers to help the police to prevent the rampant stealing of railway rolling stocks to encourage the Ministry in its redevelopment efforts.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah assured the Railway Minister of his commitment to finding the culprits, but called for the speedy prosecution of the few already arrested to serve as a deterrent.