Parliament has approved a total of Five Hundred and Seventy-Six million Cedis approximately, for the Ministry of Railway Development for the year ending 31st December, 2022 to carry out planned activities.
This followed an adoption of the report of the Committee on Roads and Transport to approve the sum of Five Hundred and Seventy-five million, Nine Hundred and Seventy Thousand, Ghana Cedis (GH¢575,970,000.00) for the Ministry of Railway Development for the 2022 Fiscal Year on Wednesday 15th December, 2021.
For the year under review, the Ministry intends to enhance capacity of interested Ghanaians and it has refurbished and upgrade the Railway Development Central Training Institute at Sekondi into a degree awarding institution in January, 2021 and that, “the institution in collaboration with the George Grant University of Mines and Technology is already providing training for over 300 Ghanaians youth in various engineering degrees programmes for the 2021/2022 academic year”.
As part of its mandate, the Ministry is expected to continue the Western Railway line from Manso to Huni Valley by Messrs Amandi under a credit facility secured by the Government.
The project will include the conversion of the dual gauge tracks between Takoradi and Kojokrom from narrow gauge to standard gauge.
Under the Eastern Railway line, a 40km standard gauge line from Accra through Achimota and Kotoku to Nsawam to commence the development of the entire Railway line on a new standard gauge.
On the Tema-Mpakadan, the report noted that, standard gauge railway project is about 90% complete and expected to be fully complete in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Committee, chaired by Kennedy Osei Nyako noted that operations of Ghana Railway Company Limited have declined to an unacceptable level making it difficult to run as a business entity.
“Owing to poor tracks, obsolete equipment and rolling stock, passenger rail services are currently limited to sections of the Eastern Line between Accra and Tema, as well as Accra and Nsawam”, the report said.
According to the report, Passenger Rail Services on the Western Line are only provided from Takoradi through Kojokrom to Sekondi and also from Takoradi to Tarkwa.
With the exception of haulage of manganese from Nsuta, the haulage of bauxite and other bulk commodities to the Takoradi port has ceased since May 2011 due to the poor condition of the tracks.
The Committee recommends that as a matter of urgency the Western line from Takoradi to Nsuta be rehabilitated to enable the Ghana Railway Company Limited continue the haulage of minerals and other bulk commodities to the Takoradi Port.
The report again noted that, “inadequate budgetary allocation and delays in the release of funds over the years has greatly hampered the effective performance of the Ministry.
To ensure accelerated economic growth and development in the country, it is important for the Ministry to be adequately resourced to enable it to address
the challenges in the railway sector”.