'We are not building classroom blocks' - Joe Ghartey to people criticising delays in rail project

Minister for Railways Development, Joe Ghartey, has parried criticisms that a massive rail infrastructural improvement promised by the Nana Akufo-Addo government is not happening as fast as expected.

According to the Minister, rail projects are capital intensive and usually involve a lot of processes and must cover a very long stretch to make the long term impact that they are expected to make.

“Railway is not building a house. We are not constructing a building. The government just got a loan of over 500 million [Euros]. It is not reaching even half the way to Kumasi…

“So those who think [it is delaying], I am sorry. We are building a [large] project. It is not a three classroom block that if we don’t like where the classroom is we can break it down. It is a long term project that we are building and I am telling you that we have done more in these four years than any government has done in four years,” he told journalists.

The MP for Essikado/Ketan Constituency made the comments on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences where the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, addressed a town hall meeting to tout government’s infrastructural achievements.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Railways is developing a Ghanaian Participation Policy that aims to promote local participation in the country’s railway sector.

The programme is expected to develop Ghanaian contractors in the railway sector through capacity-building programmes and encouragement and also promote technology transfer in the sector.

This was contained in the report of Parliament’s Committee on Roads and Transport on the commercial agreement between the government and Amandi Investment Limited for an amount of €500 million for the construction of sections of the Western Railway Line on the standard gauge from Takoradi Port to Huni Valley.

Joe Ghartey is confident that the Akufo-Addo government will deliver on its promise to revamp the rail sector in Ghana.

“I am sorry, but if people are not happy [about the delay] I wish I could make them happy as well. But I want to assure them, the process is as important, if not more important than even the execution,” he said.