Unauthorised structures along Western rail lines to be demolished
The Ministry of Transport has issued a final warning to encroachers on all pieces of land earmarked for railway lines to desist from the act or face prosecution.
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It also called on the Ghana Railway Company (GRC) to stop the illegal leasing of railway lands to the public which had resulted in litigation over some of those lands, a development which is hindering the ongoing renovation of the sector.
The sector Minister, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, said the ministry would do everything possible to ensure that railway lands were adequately protected to accelerate national efforts to revamp the sector.
She gave the warning while opening the final consultancy forum on the report on the Western Railway Line infrastructural front end engineering design (FEED) in Accra yesterday.
The FEED, which is also referred to as pre-project planning (PPP) or early project planning, is the basic engineering which is conducted after the completion of the conceptual design or feasibility study of a project.
At this stage, various studies take place to figure out technical issues and estimate rough investment cost before the start of the actual engineering, procurement and construction.
The forum, organised by the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, was a platform for stakeholders to discuss the final draft of the Western Railway FEED report and fine-tune it.
The FEED project
The project to design the new preliminary 340-kilometre Western Railway Line include the design of a standard gauge, a concrete sleeper railway track and designs for the renovation and remodelling of 38 rail stations, including two terminals with all facilities.
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Other initiatives include the realignment of 30 per cent of the existing line to a radius capable of permitting 120 kilometres speed in every hour for passenger trains and 80 kilometres speed in every hour for freight trains.
Designs for the reconstruction and remodelling of workshops and running sheds, state-of-the-art signalling and telecommunications systems, the provision of a more realistic estimation of the cost of construction, among other designs, are to be provided as part of the FEED project, among other components.
The project is being undertaken by Team Engineering Company, an Italian consulting firm.
The actual construction of the Western Railway Line, estimated to cost approximately one billion US dollars, includes the re-development and modernisation of the existing railway line.
Mrs Attivor said based on the GRA’s mandate to promote the development of the railway and its services locally, among other mandates, its short and medium-term plan was to rebuild and modernise all existing railway networks and subsequently extend them to the northern part of the country.
That has been estimated to be done at a cost of $21 billion beginning by the end of April this year, to be completed in 33 years.
The construction of new lines would be undertaken in phases to link the entire country and the sub-region.
The construction of the Western Railway Line constitutes phase one of the national project.
Public-private partnership (PPP)
Mrs Attivor said the authority recognised the need for private sector participation in the re-development of the railway sector.
“The public-private model is the preferred method for developing business relationships with the private sector today. The government of Ghana has developed and published extensive PPP policy guidelines to support the choice of this option for infrastructural development,” she added.
She said in relation to private sector participation, it had become imperative for the GRDA to sensitise the public to the design principles and parameters for the new railway system to be implemented in accordance with the railway master plan for Ghana.
Background
Much of Ghana’s 953-kilometre rail network was built to support agricultural and mining activities in the western, central and eastern zones of the country, but in the last few decades they have failed to yield the impact expected due to their deterioration brought about by lack of fresh investment to modernise the system.
The British colonial administration was responsible for the start of railway operations in the then Gold Coast in 1898.
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The railway network in Ghana resembles a capital "A", comprising three components, namely, the Western Division running from Secondi/Takoradi to Kumasi; the Eastern Division from Accra to Kumasi and the Central Division from Huni Valley to Kotoku.
The network includes branch lines on the Western Division to Prestea and Awaso, a branch line to Kade on the Central Division and branch lines to Tema and the Shai Hills on the Eastern Division.
The original 304-kilometre Eastern Railway Line was built in 1923 by the British for the purpose of hauling minerals and cocoa.
Construction of the rail lines started before there were any port facilities and locomotives.
Currently, very little of the once vibrant railway network remains in operation.
Writer’s email Doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh
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