Caption 

The Administration Block of the Inland Port

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MR. ISAAC Afum, the Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Ports Services Limited (APSL), a joint venture of Afum Quality Limited of Ghana and DSS Associates of the Republic of Korea, which is committed to invest a total of $330 million for the realisation of the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal project popularly referred to as the Boankra Inland Port project has assured that the project would be completed within two years.

He has affirmed that the project is billed to kick start in August following the award of the contract to Justmoh Constructions to carry out the project.

The construction firm has been requested to mobilize to site to commence works latest by Monday August 8, 2022 in order to forestall any further delays with the project, a correspondence dated July 25, 2022 and signed by the CEO has directed.

The Ashanti Ports Services Limited boss reiterated that the construction firm has two years to complete the project and hand it over to the government.

According to him, over 7,000 workers would be employed on completion and that it would create other informal job opportunities to others within the region and beyond.

He said the Project comprise a COCOBOD terminal which will facilitate exportation of cocoa in the Ashanti region to other neighbouring countries and stressed that both COCOBOD and Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) will get their terminals within the Port to ensure that cocoa from the Ashanti Region are easily exported.

Mr. Afum said the railway project will not hinder the operation of the Inland Port and expressed the hope that the proposed railway line will be constructed on time for the smooth operation of the Port.

The concessionaire, Ashanti Ports Services Limited has explained that the Boankra Inland Port project has been initiated to provide services to importers and exporters in the middle and northern parts of the country and also to act as a major conduit for the efficient transportation of transit traffic to and from neighbouring landlocked countries like 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; parking slots, light industrial areas, and an administration complex.

In January 1996, then President Jerry John Rawlings cut sod at a site between Aprade Junction and Fumesua in the Ashanti Region for the construction of an inland port but due to litigation over the land the project was moved to Boankra for commencement of works in 2001.

To date, only a few primary structures, including the Boankra Shippers Centre/Administration Block, the extension of electricity, water and telephone and the construction of a temporary access road connecting the inland port to the Kumasi-Konongo highway have been completed on the 400-acre land earmarked for the project.

By Kow Richardson