The African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) has granted a $280 million loan facility for the development of the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal project in the Ashanti Region.

It was made possible through the concessionaire, Ashanti Ports Services Limited, a joint venture of Afum Quality Limited of Ghana and DSS Associates of the Republic of Korea.

The concessionaire under the agreement is expected to invest about $330 million for the realisation of this project. 

It is also expected to design, engineer, finance, procure, construct, operate and maintain the project and transfer it to the government after a 30-year period.

The bank approved the loan facility in a crunch meeting as part of the ongoing 30th Afreximbank Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra.

The project is meant to ease congestion at the country’s seaports, thus facilitating the transit trade of Ghana through Kumasi to the northern belts and the landlocked neighbouring countries, including Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

The artistic aerial view of the Inland Port

Excitement

When contacted, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Afum Quality Limited (AQL), Isaac Afum, expressed excitement at the approval of the loan facility secured from Afreximbank.

He said the first phase of the project, which included the ground for the terminal area and basic structures, was near completion.

Mr Afum explained that after the completion of the terminal, it would be fitted with an inland clearance depot, customs bonded and unbonded estates, commercial areas such as banks, offices and trading facilities, vehicle parking areas, light industrial areas and an administration complex.

He said the project works would offer significant employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled labour during the two phases of construction and operation.

The CEO of AQL said there were also other ancillary small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that would be located within the enclave to support the operations of the terminal.

Mr Afum added that the concessionaire was optimistic about meeting the completion deadline of March 2024.

The project

The idea of the Boankra Inland Port project has been in the pipeline since the era of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

An attempt to bring it to fruition encountered a number of challenges, the significant one being the end of President Kufuor’s administration in 2009.

The project would provide services for importers and exporters in the middle and northern parts of the country, and act as a major conduit for the efficient transportation of transit traffic to and from neighbouring landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

On October 16, last year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo visited the project site during which he urged the concessionaire and the contractors to deliver the project on schedule and on budget.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline