Keta Port feasibility study to be completed, first quarter 2021
Feasibility studies being conducted into the construction of the Keta Port will be completed in the first quarter of 2021, Dr Alexander Adusei Jnr, Director of Port of Keta, has revealed.
Dr Adusei Jnr said the feasibility studies were scientific analysis that would look into all relevant economic, technical, legal, and social factors concerning the project.
It would afford the Port Authority the needed information on the likelihood of completing the project successfully in line with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority’s (GPHA) masterplan.
Speaking to the media, he said GPHA would be able to draw a clear course for the construction of the Keta Port after fully assessing reports from the feasibility studies.
He said after the completion of studies in February 2021, relevant Ministries such as Ministry of Roads and Highways, and Railways Development would be engaged due to the essential role they played in the value chain of such a development.
He indicated that although the coronavirus pandemic created some obstacles to the smooth progress of the feasibility studies, the consultants had been able to redesign their mode of operation, and had continued all relevant research, and engagements.
“Even with COVID-19 interrupting us, we have managed to get our consultants to engage stakeholders through the telecommunication platforms and physically as well,” he disclosed, adding that the consultant would soon arrive in Ghana to resume physical engagements with relevant stakeholders to complete their studies.
Dr Adusei Jnr added that the GPHA would then open itself up for tangible offers from potential investors for the construction of the Keta Port indicating that, a lot of companies had shown interest in developing the facility.
He projected that when the Port of Keta was completed, it would serve as an agribusiness hub for Ghana, and complement the nation’s efforts in embarking on an aggressive industrialization agenda that would serve as a springboard for a Ghana that is beyond aid.
The Director of the Port of Keta, explained that an infrastructure such as a port would open up opportunities for investment into the agribusiness, and manufacturing industry for the Volta basin of Ghana which he said was blessed with enormous agricultural potential.
He further said the Port of Keta, would also open up investments into the exploration, and exploitation of mineral resources that the Volta basin was endowed with, and that he noted could significantly augment Ghana’s export potential as well.
“We believe that once you have a major port in that area, those industries would spring up themselves and you would have investor interest. Because they know for sure that coming there, they would have other antecedent projects.”
Source: GNA