Banks must pool resources to finance port projects

Banks have been advised to form a syndicate that could pool their resources to finance high-yielding but huge investments, like port infrastructure projects.

Mr Richard Anamoo, Director-General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) said, currently no bank in Ghana could solely provide the needed credit facilities for needed port expansion.

He indicated that his outfit always falls on foreign banks to finance its projects, because locals do not have the capacity to lend.

Mr Anamoo gave the advice during a three-day maiden Ports and Harbours West Africa Summit held at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre at Teshie.

The Director-General said, there was the need for banks to form a strong force that could provide more credit to the GPHA to embark on the needed expansion, noting that 50 million dollars was not enough to even buy equipment for its operations.

He said, for instance, South Africa and Kenya were embarking on expansions worth 1.02 billion and 25.5 billion dollars respectively, which he said was very expensive for one bank to finance.

Mr Anamoo indicated that Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was very necessary to the development of ports’ capacity in Africa.

He said PPP was needed for capacity expansion in infrastructure, superstructure, communication infrastructure, human capacity development and hinterland access infrastructure.

The Director-General noted that without such expansions the economy could not grow, as most West Africa economies thrive on the activities of the port.

Mrs Joyce Bawah-Mogtari, Deputy Minister of Transport, delivering the keynote address, thanked infrastructure IQ (a division of International Quality and Productivity Centre), for organizing the summit in collaboration with GPHA.

Mrs Bawah-Mogtari urged the delegates from the 24 participating countries to interact with each other, and share experiences as well as discuss the common and peculiar challenges facing their ports.

She said the summit was aimed at discussing port construction and expansion challenges faced by all governmental and port operator colleagues.

It is also to identify solutions and innovative equipment capabilities which would ensure that port infrastructure and transport networks remained efficient and equipped to the highest standards.