President Nana Akufo-Addo has inaugurated the redeveloped Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, after the facility was closed for rehabilitation work in August last year.
The 5.4-acre facility – which was built in 1992 to honour, promote and preserve the legacies of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president – has never seen any major facelift until this one.
The facility’s renovation, which was estimated at US$3million, is part of a US$40million World Bank-supported Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP) meant to improve the performance of tourism in targetted destinations across the country.
Opening the facility, President Akufo-Addo said the Park is renovated to befit the exceptional status of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah – a Pan-Africanist who stood out in the fight for liberation not only in Ghana but also the rest of Africa.
The president charged the Tourism Ministry and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to devise effective marketing and promotional strategies to ensure the Park attracts one million tourists annually.
“Prior to this rehabilitation, the Park’s annual visitor turnout was estimated at a little over 90,000. However, with Ghana strongly placed on the continent’s tourism map it is possible for one million visitors, both domestic and inbound, to come here annually,” he said.
As part of measures to make the country a hub of heritage tourism in Africa, the president touted the several museums and other heritage attractions which are being constructed or renovated in various parts of the country.
“The construction of museums including the Bonwire museums, the Yaa Asantewaa Museum, Aborigines Museum in Cape Coast and a Memorial Enclave in Tamale are all in the offing,” he disclosed.
The president asked the GTA to work closely with metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to ensure that the upcoming ‘December in Gh’ events this year are well-executed, as the initiative has come to stay.
He tasked sector players to adopt sustainable tourism practices in order to deepen gains of the sector and to make it viable.
World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Frank Larporte, lauded the newly renovated facility and described it as a visionary project by government.
“As we honour Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s legacy, the World Bank wishes to congratulate the government of Ghana and the president for this facelift,” Mr. Larporte said.
He reiterated the Bank’s commitment to supporting viable projects such as the rehabilitation in order to create jobs and generate revenue for the country.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said his ministry will continue to invest in projects which have massive potential to raise sustainable income for the state, adding: “The ministry wants many of these projects replicated across the country”.
Sector minister Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal noted that the ministry will continue investing in the tourism sector to put the country’s potentials on the global map.
The facility
The facility’s renovation started in August last year, entailing total refurbishment of the Mausoleum and t Park. At its unveilling, the facility had a newly built Presidential Library, a training centre, new restaurant, VVIP lounge, an Artistic Freedom Wall, a befitting car park, state of the art lavatory, music and light fountain, digitised revenue collection system and many other ancillary facilities.
The Park, according to Dr. Awal, has created an additional 50 permanent jobs and many indirect ones upon its completion.
The facility will expectedly contribute significantly to the country’s 1.2 million anticipated international tourist arrivals in 2023, with an estimated corresponding revenue of US$3.4billion.
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