Mahama flays NPP MPs over Atuabo Free Port suit

Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, John Dramani Mahama says he personally convinced the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, to station the Atuabo Free Port being constructed by Lonrho Ports in Ghana.

According to him, the financiers of the project were torn between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as their preferred destination for the free port but had to make a case at the Executive level to ensure the investors settle on the former British colony.

“That project, the decision had to be made whether to station it in Cote d’Ivoire. It was when I visited the UK and I met with Prime Minister David Cameron that we made the pitch to station the project in Ghana,” he noted in an interview on Twin-City Radio on Monday.

He was however worried that after all the efforts that had gone into the preparation of the project, some five parliamentarians are trying to halt its execution.

““I don’t support the idea of Parliamentarians taking part in a decision by the sovereign Parliament of Ghana and then turning around and going back to court to go and try and block a project that might benefit the State.”

“I just can’t understand what their intentions are.”

The Atuabo Free Port when completed will be the gateway to West Africa’s offshore oil and gas industry and a regional hub supporting the activities of not only the upstream oil and gas companies but also the service companies that support them.

The Free Port will provide a 18.5m deep channel and three quays of varying depths from 16.5m, 12m and 9m, clear activity zones including Offshore Logistics, Subsea Fabrication, Rig and Vessel Repair, Business Technology Park and General Business Support Infrastructure.

The Government of Ghana has 45% shares in the project (inclusive the 10% carried interest) while the financiers, Lonrho Ports, has 20% with the remaining 35% shares going to the lead head.